Want to Know More about You

Want to Know More about You

            Like everything that is born or developed in the world, things would eventually end. In the case of this second episode in the BBC The Story of Maths, it is the Greek spotlight that has ended. However, the decline of ancient Greece did not become an end point to Mathematics. The development of Math continued to the East and so, this is where, Marcus du Sautoy picked up his exploration.

            In this continuation of his exploration, he visited China and tackled the development of Mathematics and how it has helped establish the imperial China. Math in China has been helpful in the field of engineering (e.g. Great Wall of China) as well as also, innovating the people to become more efficient in their everyday lives. For example, it is in these times that they have started to use the decimal system, conceptualizing “zero” (but not giving emphasis) and believing in the symbolism in numbers. Next, he went to India. The concept of zero has been given meaning in this part of history. More numbers have then been discovered --- from negative numbers to infinity. The last place he visited was the Middle East where cubic solutions and algebra were invented. Mathematics is conceptualizing and making or giving meaning to those concepts.

            Without these slow steps in the history of Mathematics, we would not be able to try to make sense or even find some solutions for our everyday living. Our numerical system is due to the Hindu-Arabic numerals that they have come up with. If it was not for that, I guess, the world will be in a chaos trying to estimate and/or mix-and-match things. No one would understand how to manage, how to interpret, how to balance, etc. The evolution of Math is still moving through the invention of more concepts that are being discovered from time to time, civilization to civilization, by us.

The Mysticism of Math

In the previous installment of The Story of Maths, we learned that mathematics’s origin is practical and its initial development and appreciation are just about running and managing the society and resources with order and a bit of introduction to logic.

In the second episode, The Genius of the East, tackled ancient civilizations from the East, in particular, the Chinese, Indian and Arabic, discussing how they actually propelled the unraveling of mathematics way ahead of Western perspective.

Ancient Chinese understood numbers as something magical and mystical. Even in present China, certain numbers and combinations of number have sub-textual meanings in them, of both good and bad. Arrangements and structures required mathematicians to build, such as the rank of imperial consorts. The decimal numeric system they've used also influenced other civilizations which helped develop understanding mathematics.

Indians, with their culture highly inclined to the ways of Hinduism, also contributed much in mathematics. The concept of zero was believed to have started in ancient Indian civilization. The reason why zero was to be recognized is its deep meaning, in accordance to Hindi conventions. Zero was of great importance because the goal of this religion is to liberate themselves from the cycle of life and go back to the origin, which is nothing and zero is the number to represent nothingness. Negative numbers were also introduced for finances which was an important aspect of their civilization. Concepts of infinity started in this civilization. Their comprehension of infinity is very similar to that of in calculus, which made this civilization more advanced in terms of understanding further knowledge about mathematics compared to the ancient West.

Contributions of ancient Arabic civilization to the development of modern Mathematics is very great. They developed Algebra which then made the concept of irrational numbers. Greek mathematics, which was mostly spatial and geometric, was improved with the methods of Arabic mathematics. They also had solutions for cubic equations, which was led by Omar Khayyam in the 9th Century. Leonardo of Pisa, or commonly known as Fibonacci, was a son of a merchant in the Middle East. There he learned the Hindu-Arabic numerical system, which made him highly interested in mathematics. As he introduced this numerical system to the West, he made the way Western people understand and use mathematics improve. A famous contribution he made was the Fibonacci sequence.

This installment made me realize that much of the origin of modern mathematics are philosophical and metaphysical in nature. This just means that understanding mathematics won't separate the mind from being philosophical since both require much brain work. Mathematics is basically a way of representation to anything fathomable, may it be physical or abstract. Fear of understanding math is forgivable. Each of us has our own ways of understanding the world around us. Mathematics may intimidate a lot of people but people, in nature, are capable of thinking with great capabilities, thus, all of us have our own complex ways in us. It can be mathematical, be it great or small.

The Origins of Math

BBC Four’s The Story of Maths, hosted by professor and pop-sci extraordinaire Marcus du Sautoy, is a 4-part series about the evolution and history of mathematics.

The first episode, called The Language of the Universe, discussed the contributions of the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek civilizations in developing mathematics. Egyptians had problems on bureaucracy and land management, thus, needed a counting system to solve their problems. They were the earliest to use the 10 base number system which was based on the fingers of human hands, which could've solved those problems which made them successful during their existence.

The Babylonian civilization used the 60 base number system, which is used to partition time and angles. They also set generalized solutions in schools and had developed way in solving some quadratic equations.

The Greeks then bridged the practical use of mathematics to its philosophical and logical functions. They have developed postulates, theorems, axioms and corollaries which are still considered true to this day.

This series made me open my mind to the actual purpose of mathematics. All I knew about it was it was just a game of numbers and figuring out the correctness of numerical statements. Knowing the reason of its birth and development is another way of sensing purpose of this branch of science. The beauty of these contributions is that they are still used and applied in the present time. In the academe, Greek contributions are still taught, especially in the field of geometry. This could be a good starter for those who don't understand the reason of math in order for them to appreciate it and open themselves in understanding its science.

Pleased To Meet You

Pleased To Meet You

A Movie Review on BBC The Story of Maths: The Language of the Universe

            Mathematics in Asia, North and South America, Australia and all over the world is the same. Even in space stations, the Math used there is the same as the Math used here. Mathematics hundreds of years ago is still the same with the Math today --- except that Math today has been generalized already along the way. The Story of Maths is a four-part movie documentary tackling the development of Math from its ancient basis to the analytical subject that we now are studying. In the first installment of the Documentary, Marcus du Sautoy, the presenter, dwells on the development of Mathematics from Egypt to Babylon to Greece.

            In Egypt, he explained how the Egyptians came up with the beginning fragments of Mathematics through observations on the flooding in the Nile River. Because the flooding of the Nile affects them economically, they had to find a way to avoid the next incident. It’s like, economic problems led the way for them to take baby steps to innovate Math. These baby steps included shapes, binary numbers and fractions. Present time-telling was explained to be from Babylon’s 60-base number system. It was also given point that to measure their land, they used quadratic equations. In Greece, it is known that it is the place for the great mathematicians who have turned the somehow unorganized way of Mathematics to the analytical concept that we know and study today. These great mathematicians include Pythagoras, Plato, Archimedes and Euclid.

            This first part of the Story of Maths is full of the ancient history of the development of Math. It is actually entertaining to watch especially with all the animations that make the illustration of examples of explanations more effective. It is just distressing because the presenter is trying his best to make the explanation of the history of Math enjoyable and interesting yet I was not very into the discussion at that moment (from human errors by 99% such as sleeping late). However, I still found some parts fun. I was amazed in the way they denote their numbers (the scroll, staff, etc.). I mean, it must take a long time to write numbers in that way [with precision] and to perform basic operations using those characters. But then, they find ways.

            It really is good to know the history of some things, most especially subjects that you think you don’t really like (e.g. Math). The understanding that it leaves us after an episode opens our mind to deeper analysis and knowledge that we can share to others and can still probably open our minds to new discoveries and information. It is only in the misunderstanding that some things appear unappealing. Once we try to understand, sometimes, we find ourselves actually going with the flow of the thought. So, let us give ourselves the chance to meet Mathematics --- the language of the universe.

Eastern Ascendancy

In the first installment of the series, The Language of the Universe, du Sautoy guided us through the histories and the mathematics of Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, all of which contributed to the development of mathematics, some more than others. Unfortunately, progress grinded to a halt after the decline of these civilizations.

The second installment, entitled The Genius of the East, sees du Sautoy transported to the Middle and Far East where the development of mathematics continued and even flourished after the decline of preceding civilizations. In these regions, mathematics became intertwined with mysticism. Du Sautoy touches upon the Chinese mathematical system and their belief in the supernatural power of numbers, such as the concept of lucky and unlucky numbers. In India, the branch of trigonometry and the symbol for zero are invented, and the then unheard of concepts of infinity and negative numbers are established. Du Sautoy then moves to the Arabic world, where the Hindu-Arabic numerical system, and the branch of algebra are invented and the development of a solution to cubic equations is first realized. These developments are then spread to Europe, paving the way for further development in the discipline, and civilization.

It is important to contextualize mathematics because it somewhat humanizes it, making it more understandable and approachable. Perhaps one of the reasons why mathematics remains unpopular is because of its perceived nebulousness. We all think of mathematics as simply numbers and equations, with no regard for its history, and the role it played in the advancement of humanity. We know of numbers and equations but we fail to appreciate its beauty. We think of it as separate from us. Through the series and du Sautoy’s infectious fervor (it is apparent that he enjoys what he’s doing), mathematics is made recognizable, accessible, and human.