History Graded Assignment

How did the mathematical and scientific discoveries of ancient India shape the modern world today? In this tech-savvy age, we cannot survive without a certain form of technology from mobile phones, to math to Wi-Fi! The world has been adapting thoroughly through many various efforts to make life more comfortable and at the same time to quench the thirst for knowledge. But hard it is to realize that some of these discoveries made in this present day are using some of the existing discoveries made by the ancient Indians in their fields of studying both math and science.

This helps us now as those discoveries made the form as a base for discoveries to be made now and act as the skeleton to the body. In this essay, I will be talking about the various discoveries of the ancient Indians made before such technology came about and will also explain thoroughly on have, they came up with their theories without using modern pieces of equipment.

However, I will also be talking about how some people might null these discoveries as impossible as they are not able to comprehend this info. Thus, I will be talking about how the mathematical and scientific discoveries of ancient India shaped the modern world today.

Ancient India has played an important role in finding many key mathematical and scientific discoveries to form a base for today. If seen in terms of mathematics, there have been scientists in ancient India who have hypothesized and did various equations to come to conclusions like how a scientist named Bramhagupta created the number 0.

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These mathematical findings are essential for us and most of these findings by them are some things we are using these days in many fields, even in school! In terms of scientific discoveries, ancient India has a long recorded history of scientific culture. These pieces of information can be found in various texts in important books where the sage perfectly and precisely explains the various scientific processes. For example, in one of the texts, a sage perfectly gives a calculation for the speed of light which is the same figure used today. The only difference was that this calculation was found about 5000 years ago with no modern equipment, while scientists only confirm this after a long period of discussion. Also, ancient India includes findings of medicines through the way of Ayurveda which only uses herbs to treat problems, findings in physics, and much more. Also, I gathered that though there is much information about the discoveries made in ancient India, it has also found a base in medicines by using various herbs and spices to treat wounds like turmeric powder which has amazing healing properties. thus in this essay, I will show the link between the finds of ancient India, how they did it, and how it was used as a building block for today’s findings.

1st supporting argument:

Astronomical discoveries in the Siddhanta ShiromaniSiddhanta Shiromani is a treatise on astronomy and includes several ideas, not presenting earlier works. The text is written in two parts: mathematical astronomy first part, and sphere second part. Bhaskara has developed a very basic method for determining the Earth’s circumference. According to this approach the distance between two locations, which are on the same longitude, is first found,d. To find the correct latitudes and the difference between the latitudes of those two locations. Understanding the distance between two latitudes is easy to find the distance equivalent to 360 degrees, which is the Earth’s circumference. For example, two towns on the alm are Satara and Kolhapur. The disparity is one degree between their latitudes and the distance between them is 110 kilometers. The Earths diameter then is 110 X 360 = 39600 km. Once the circumference is fixed, it is easy to calculate the diameter. Bhaskara gave the value of the Earth’s circumference as 4967‘ yojana (1 yojan= 8 km), which means 39736kilometers. His value of the diameter of the Earth is 1581 yojanas i.e. 12648 km. The modern values of the circumference and the diameter of the Earth are 40212 and12800 kilometers respectively. The values given by Bhaskara are astonishingly close. These facts that I have just given are a few of the many scientific discoveries that were made in ancient India. In this supporting argument, I will also be writing about how the ancient art of medicine, Ayur Veda, came about and how it helped people till today. Another key discovery I will be writing about in this essay is the topic of gravity where an Indian scientist named Brahma Gupta found this pull about 1000 years before sir Isaac Newton’s time. Lastly, I will also be writing about the way an ancient Indian described the way a fetus develops in a mother’s womb, which later helped a European 1700 years later to find a base for his research on the same matter. With these discoveries, I will also write simultaneously on how they achieved these phenomenal breakthroughs without such modern pieces of equipment.

2nd-supporting argument:

Mathematical discoveries in the sacred Veda

The earliest surviving Sanskrit references to mathematical topics are some number words in the Vedas, which are ancient sacred texts passed down by recitation and memorization. Records of mathematical activity are mostly found in Vedic texts related to ritual activities during the Vedic period. One such Veda is Rig Veda, a commentary made by Sayana (c. 1315-1387) on the Rigveda, a minister in the South India court of King Bukka I of the Vijayanagar Empire. In a hymn addressed to the sun, he says it; remembered that the sun crosses 2,202 yojanas in half a time. This assertion may refer either to the sun’s velocity or too light. The units are renowned. The Indian epic Mahabharata, for example, conservatively dated to 400 BC -400AD describes 1 time as 16/75.3 seconds; 1 yojana is around 9 miles. In Sayana’s statement, we substitute we get 186,536 miles per second. The genuineness of the figure in the ancient book comes from another old book, the Vayu Purana. This is one of the earliest Puranas, at least considered to be 1,500 years old. There is the statement in chapter 50 of this book that the sun moves 3.15 million yojanas in 48 minutes. It corresponds to approximately 10,000 miles per second when considered as light speed and 135 million miles for the distance to the sun is considered as sun speed. Sayana’s speed of light is exactly 18 times greater than this speed of the sun. This is an example of a mathematical discovery made in ancient India and will be explained more thoroughly by using the sources. Also, I will be writing about how calculus was theorized by Swami Nityananda and how he incidentally came upon the find. I will also write here about how fractions were invented by the famous mathematician in India and will write about the Pythagorean theorem that was already introduced in India way longer the Pythagoras invented it. Lastly, the most famous mathematical invention from India, the way the number zero came about, and how the wonderful genius Chandra Gupta came up with such a sharp theory will be discussed in this 2nd supporting argument.

3rd supporting argument:

In this paragraph, I will be writing about the links between the ancient discoveries made by India and the modern-day discoveries made today. In terms of medicine, the Ayur Veda was the earliest form of medicine found in ancient India. This was based on a systematic knowledge of plant-derived medicines and are proactively effective today. Also, detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, which was written about two paragraphs ago, digestion, metabolism, physiology, genetics, immunity, psychology, and etiology can be found in many ancient Indian texts. The father of medicine in ancient India, Sushruta, was the first to invent the art of performing surgery with anesthesia, which was a breakthrough for humanity as now, more researchers know how to conduct operations and surgery which are being discussed enabling treatment to be safer. Also, in terms of maths, fractions, which were invented by Indians are now a basic part of our life and we are needing to use this starting from primary school to life. Also, geometry, which is an integral part of our life, was theorized by the ancient Indians from the start. The speed of light, which was theorized by the ancient Indians help to base the uniform measurement for light. Theories of gravity helped to build a hypothesis, that later got other scientists on their feet in various experiments to do. Sages from India found the circumference of the earth, which later helped geography, to build its base higher and sturdier. India also has the oldest knowledge of astronomy and created tables that correctly show at what time exactly solar eclipses occur and end, the days when the moon waxes and wanes, and auspicious timings for ceremonies to occur. This was found 4500 years ago to help us find timings quicker and more easily. These data are exact and do not mislead users. With this, I end my third supporting argument.

Based on all the three supporting arguments I have, I can conclude with definiteness that the mathematical and scientific discoveries made by the ancient Indians did pave a path for modern discoveries to be made. Apart, from the examples given in my arguments, ancient India contributed to many scientific and mathematical discoveries such as calculating the distance between the sun and the earth found in the celebrated collection of Hanuman Chalisa, deduction of the value of pi by Aryabhata [π] and the formation of Fibonacci numbers and their sequence which were deduced by a famous ancient Indian mathematician named Pingala. Some of these discoveries are cited in ancient Indian scriptures such as the Vedas, which provides a piece of more concrete evidence and forms a basis as proof for the credibility of these discoveries. Besides, ancient India has held modern-day scientists to develop and finalize theories. An example of this would be the carburized steel (Indian wootz steel) which was a high-quality steel product that was a source of astonishment to other great civilizations such as ancient Greece, Rome, and Arabs. The ancient Indian technique in making this high-quality steel today forms the basis of modern steel production used for vehicles and cutlery that we eat in.

In conclusion, the mathematical and scientific discoveries of ancient India did shape the modern world today. They provided useful erudition, evidence, and methodologies to enable modern-day scientists to not only have a basis for further discoveries to be made in the future and to also provide an understanding of the discoveries made.