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Bakhshali manuscript: oldest recorded use of the zero symbol
- gourabmi 9y agoDidn't Aryabhatta, the one who invented zero, live in an era much earlier than the 3rd or 4th century ?
- iooi 9y agoHighly recommend "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" [1] if you're interested in learning more about the number zero. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Biography-Dangerous-Charles-Seife/dp/0140296476 https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Biography-Dangerous-Charles-Seif...
- snambi 9y agoSeems like fake history...
- legends2k 9y agoThanka for the link, upvoted. Tangential note: This is what I don't like about the so-called hackers not upvoting stuff unrelated to the Western world.
- greglindahl 9y agoI upvoted this submission, as did a large number of other people who probably live in the Western world. Do you think your comment is likely to increase or decrease upvotes?
- justboxing 9y ago> Now scientists have traced the origins of this conceptual leap to an ancient Indian text, known as the Bakhshali manuscript – a text which has been housed in the UK since 1902. "Housed" is a nice soft word for stealing. The English plundered all kinds of treasure from the lands they invaded and annexed. This and even the Rosetta Stone from Egypt. (saying this as an Indian). [EDIT: Why the downvotes? by 1900 the English, French and Dutch had invaded and colonized 90% of Africa and Asia. Source: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/colonial/colonial_index.html http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/colo... ]
- X86BSD 9y agoI believe they have a certain large diamond as well they stole from India and they would like it back.
- justboxing 9y agoYes. The Kohinoor Diamond. Related: India pushes for return of its “Kohinoor” Diamond Back from Britain => https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11542689 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11542689
- snambi 9y agoNot just one diamond. Many more treasures are stolen. If they give back everything, they wouldn't have anything left.
- X86BSD 9y agoI do not doubt that at all. They only left India once they stole everything of value. Unfortunately I know only about the diamond. But I believe you that there is much more than just that.
- pvg 9y agoThere was no shortage of outright stealing but it doesn't seem to be the case here. For one thing, it likely wasn't seen (other than by specialists) as a cultural artifact of quite the importance we give it today. The accounts of its discovery and early work done on it don't say anything about theft (including the Indian ones I can find). The fact it was found in what is today Pakistan probably means nobody on any side wants to as much as think about the can of worms any discussion about repatriation would be.
- thetruthseeker1 9y agoI think this article fails to capture the importance of zero. While the idea of zero itself isn't staggeringly mind blowing, the real greatness with zero came in with development of decimal/ Hindu (positional) numerical system and zero indicating nothing in a position which led to simplicity in doing arithmetic. For example can you think of the rules to multiply XVIV with XXV or can you quickly calculate what the result of that will be without translating to a decimal number system ? Exactly! With the use of zero and the the development of rules for decimal arithmetic (Brahmagupta), the hindu numeral system became superior to the roman numeral system and thus led to its wide adoption (The decimal number system was promoted by Fibonacci in the west and some people consider that to be his greatest achievement).
- KGIII 9y agoRather than type it out, this link gives a good rundown: http://www.actforlibraries.org/the-importance-of-zero-in-mathematics/ http://www.actforlibraries.org/the-importance-of-zero-in-mat... Namely, I think you don't give poor zero quite enough respect. Zero is one of the biggest advancements to mathematics. Anyone can count to one, and even count multiple sets of one. The idea that nothing is something is underrated. Poor zero is often not given due credit.
- pvg 9y agoThere were positional number systems before there was a separate symbol for zero. People weren't flailing about with Roman numerals or similar systems until a symbol for zero was invented.
- jaclaz 9y ago>For example can you think of the rules to multiply XVIV with XXV or can you quickly calculate what the result of that will be without translating to a decimal number system ? Exactly! Well, very likely the Romans had some tricks to do that (and besides very likely they did use an abacus), the fact that it appears difficult to us (having been immersed in positional notation) does not mean much. This algorithm (making use of halving and doubling) doesn't look so bad: http://rbutterworth.nfshost.com/Tables/romanmult http://rbutterworth.nfshost.com/Tables/romanmult and it can be used also with our "positional" numbers. http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/roman.htm http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/roman.htm The abacus (the Chinese "suanpan" or a derivative of it, as it is still used in some eastern countries) is - in the hands of someone used to it - very fast, I have seen people be on par or outperform a "westerner" trying to do the same operation on a pocket calculator, I wouldn't be surprised if the Romans abacus was as fast as that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_abacus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_abacus the base as decimal (or actually bi-quinary) is the same.
- nebula 9y agoAmerican mathematical society has a featured column related to use of zero in India: http://www.ams.org/samplings/feature-column/fcarc-india-zero#sthash.JE8LWI1D.dpuf http://www.ams.org/samplings/feature-column/fcarc-india-zero...