Rituals and Origins of Mathematics
Key Terms
- A. Seidenberg
- B. L. VAN DER WAERDEN
- Fritz Staal
- Amartya Kumar Dutta
- K. Plofker
- O. NEUGEBAUER
- Subhash Kak
- Radha Charan Gupta
- George Gheverghese Joseph
- Jan Gonda
- Geometry
- Algebra
- Geometrical Algebra
- Algebraic Geometry
- Rituals
- Ritual Origin of Geometry
- Ritual Origin of Counting
- Space
- Time
- Measuring of Space
- Counting of Time
- Greece
- Babylon
- Mesopotamia
- Gudea of Lagash
- Vedic India
- Egypt (Misr)
- China
- Tibet
- England
- Sulba Sutra
- Sulb – To Measure
- Migrations and Diffusions
- Culture, Knowledge, Traditions
- Circle and Square
- Heaven and Earth
- Vedic Mathematics
- Mesoamerica
Source: Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture
Source: Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture
Source: The ritual origin of geometry
Let us sum up the history of geometry from its beginnings in peg-and-cord constructions for circles and squares.
The circle and square were sacred figures and were studied by the priests for the same reason they studied the stars, namely, to know their gods better. The observation that the square on the diagonal of a rectangle was the sum of the squares on the sides found an immediate ritual application. Its elaboration in the sacrificial ritual gave it a dominant position in ancient thought and ensured its conservation for thousands of years. This initial elaboration took place well before 2000 B.C. By 2000 B.C., it was already old and had diffused parts of itself into Egypt and Babylonia (unless, indeed, one of these places was the homeland of the elaboration). These parts became the basis of a new development in these centers. The new, big development was the solution of the quadratic. A thousand years and more later, Greece inherited algebra from Babylonia, but its geometry has more of an Indian than a Babylonian look. It inherited geometric algebra, the problem of squaring the circle, the problem of expressing √2 rationally, and some notions of proof.
Source: Mathematics in India / Part 1: Geometry in Vedic and Sūtra literature
Source: The ritual origin of geometry
Source: The ritual origin of counting
Source: On the volume of a sphere
Source: The Ritual Origin of the Circle and Square
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Key Sources for Research
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Part 1: Geometry in Vedic and Sūtra literature
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Mathematics in India
Part 2: Computational Mathematics in Vedic and Sūtra Literature
Amartya Kumar Dutta
Mathematics in India
Part 3: The Decimal Notation and some Arithmetic Algorithms
Amartya Kumar Dutta
Mathematics in India
Part 4: Principles of Arithmetic
Amartya Kumar Dutta
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Amartya Kumar Dutta
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DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICS
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Development in Mathematics
1 – Indian Third Wave West: Fertile Cresent and mathematics
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Posted on Feb 19, 2013 by VOI
2 – Indian Third Wave West: From language to thought
N.S. Rajaram
Posted on Apr 7, 2013 by VOI
1 & 2 – Indo-Europeans: Their origins and the natural history of their languages
N.S. Rajaram
Posted on Dec 23, 2012 by VOI
3 – Indo-Europeans: Pashupati’s animals on the march
N.S. Rajaram
Posted on Jan 8, 2013 by VOI
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A Bigger Altar Geometry & Ritual
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In Square Circle: Geometric Knowledge of the Indus Civilization
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**Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India.
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