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> It has been interesting to learn over time that much of this was inherited from Indian scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians (and it has been disquieti

> It has been interesting to learn over time that much of this was inherited from Indian scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians (and it has been disquieting to learn what “inherited” is a euphemism for). This is a fairly standard line in the Indian middle class. However, apart from the decimal system none of the Arabic contributions are of Indian origin, and I am not aware of any philosophical ideas being borrowed at all. For instance, the key contribution - the invention of algebra is clearly of Arabic origin by Al Khawrizmi. This is a fairly comprehensive list of Arabic contributions. Which of these (apart from non fractional decimal systems) are if Indian origin? . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_in_the_medieval_Islamic_world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_in_the_medieval_Is... Also, it would be helpful to clarify what was disquieting about the confirmed borrowed idea - the decimal system. Most of the time I only come across vague references with nothing concrete stated. There is also a lot of speculation about ancient Indian mathematics being borrowed from Sumerian sources (where the first Pythagorean triples were observed etc)

fwlr 4y ago
I know there’s a lot of political discussion going on under my post (it’s impressively restrained for how strongly felt the emotions involved are!), but I assure you I’m coming from an uninvolved/uninformed perspective - I’m lower-class white Australian (very Australian - my ancestry traces back to both the convicts and the officers on the prison ships) and I have no idea what the common Indian or Muslim views on this topic are, nor am I trying to pass much judgment on them. I’m also not equipped to debate the subtleties - what was going through my head when I made the comment was “I remember prominent caveats that Edison stole from Tesla when we learned about electricity, that Bell stole from Gray when we learned about telephones, that Watson and Crick stole from their secretary when we learned about DNA, that Grace Hopper was robbed when we learned about computers, etc., but those caveats were missing when we learned about Islam’s contributions to math and science.”
agileAlligator 4y ago
> Which of these (apart from non fractional decimal systems) are if Indian origin? There is in fact a wikipedia article on the subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_influence_on_Islamic_science#Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_influence_on_Islamic_sc... I am sure that the references there will provide a jumping off point to learn more

fwlr 4y ago

I know there’s a lot of political discussion going on under my post (it’s impressively restrained for how strongly felt the emotions involved are!), but I assure you I’m coming from an uninvolved/uninformed perspective - I’m lower-class white Australian (very Australian - my ancestry traces back to both the convicts and the officers on the prison ships) and I have no idea what the common Indian or Muslim views on this topic are, nor am I trying to pass much judgment on them. I’m also not equipped to debate the subtleties - what was going through my head when I made the comment was “I remember prominent caveats that Edison stole from Tesla when we learned about electricity, that Bell stole from Gray when we learned about telephones, that Watson and Crick stole from their secretary when we learned about DNA, that Grace Hopper was robbed when we learned about computers, etc., but those caveats were missing when we learned about Islam’s contributions to math and science.”

agileAlligator 4y ago

> Which of these (apart from non fractional decimal systems) are if Indian origin? There is in fact a wikipedia article on the subject https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_influence_on_Islamic_science#Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_influence_on_Islamic_sc... I am sure that the references there will provide a jumping off point to learn more