Re: [HM] Vedic mathematics?

Mike Robison (mrobison@voyager.net)
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 07:28:10 -0500

> 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?

A while back I found this site about vedic mathematics.
http://www.silverleaf.com/jiva/observe/vedicmat/vedicmat.html
For those interested, here is a political commentary on the current
place of vedic mathematics. I don't know how accurate the statements
are, but it seems to have relevance to the study of the history of
mathematics.
http://www.igc.apc.org/dissent/archive/winter97/nanda.html

Mike

-- 
Mike Robison
Math graduate student and occasional amateur historian
Michigan State University
mrobison@voyager.net robiso12@pilot.msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/user/robiso12/index.htm