Re: [HM] Vedic mathematics?

Kim Plofker (Kim_Plofker@Brown.edu)
Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:05:38 -0500 (EST)

It's difficult to know exactly what the following query is about,
since the terminology's kind of vague. The "Vedic Mathematics" that
is enjoying a vogue in mathematics pedagogy these days, and that is
sometimes described as being associated with a parisista of the
Atharvaveda, is a mid-twentieth century (C.E.) development. Some people also
loosely use the term "Vedic mathematics" to describe any pre-modern
South Asian mathematics preserved in Sanskrit; in this category there
are a number of algebraic methods for solving equations (many of which
were adopted by Muslim recipients and became the basis of our algebra),
but I don't know which one(s) the student might be referring to.

Kim Plofker

Dept. of History of Mathematics
Brown University

>>Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 09:36:12 -0600
>>Reply-To: A Forum for Discussion of the History of the Philosophy of
>> Science <HOPOS-L@listserv.nd.edu>
>>Sender: A Forum for Discussion of the History of the Philosophy of
>> Science <HOPOS-L@listserv.nd.edu>
>>From: Warren Schmaus <schmaus@CHARLIE.CNS.IIT.EDU>
>>Subject: Vedic mathematics?
>>X-To: A Forum for Discussion of the History of the Philosophy of
>> Science <HOPOS-L@VMA.CC.ND.EDU>
>>To: HOPOS-L@listserv.nd.edu
>>
>>I've got a student from the subcontinent who tells me that in Vedic
>>mathematics, there was a method for solving equations that sort of
>>resembled the way Europeans used determinants, but that since there was
>>no proof or justification for these procedures in India, that Europeans
>>did not take them seriously when they learned of them. Does anyone on the
>>list know anything about this topic?
>>
>>Warren Schmaus
>>Professor of Philosophy
>>Department of Humanities
>>Illinois Institute of Technology
>>3301 S Dearborn
>>Chicago, IL 60616
>>(312) 567-3473
>>Fax: (312) 567-5187
>>schmaus@charlie.iit.edu
>>
>David J. Stump
>Department of Philosophy
>University of San Francisco phone (415) 422-6153
>San Francisco, CA 94118 FAX (415) 422-2346
>USA email stumpd@usfca.edu