4138, sucon to Indian Knowledge Systom-_Concepts and APP CHAPTER Number System and Units of Measurement 15. For a good Sanskeit, Sri Aurobindo So« prema fa chapter, you wil be able to: features of Indian Numeral System as played in advancement of Science and Technology ‘Afr firishing this Understand the key ‘Appreciate the key rol Understand how measures for Decipher the unique methods deployed Identify che roots of modern-day binary system aera 1, length and weight were in use in Ancient India resent numbers tion of India to the in establishing a robust and a mature number system much before the dawn of the Common Era (CE). This was inherited up by the Arabic ‘world during 8th Century CE and eventually passed on to the West by Ith Century CE.and Applaatione _ 140 _tiveduction to Intan Knowledge Systom=Con Om me © Gautama-Buddha on Number System ‘An episode In the life of Buddha Laitaistira provides an am prevalence ofa rok 390. When Siddh ‘was to marry Yak Unit of measure 1 Yojana) ako 11 Span 12 Phalanges of ages 1 Phalanofa |? Gralnga a Grains of Bey 4 Grainof Barley |7_ Mustard seeds 1 Mustardseed [7 Poppy 1 Poppyseed | Specks of est sind T Speckof dost [7 Speck of dn a stirred by a cow aram oy T speckofdust | 7 Specks of it sinelhy Siredbyarom | share T Speckof dust [7 Specks ofdutstnedly Shrredby ahare | thewhd Tspeckof aus [7 ToySpeds ofan sired bythe wind 3 formula, At the nth counting system, fhumber in the series can be generated formula: since Sddharths mentioned of eight more counting [1 Tiny speckoof systems a ye number ‘such large [_dust ‘pumbers are unheard of even toda. “The existence of unique names to numbers of e ee oF History of Number ‘The bedrock of modern scientifi ‘of measurement, and computational mechanisms. In an era of comp. he inary system is an Important aspect of this. Another important =sPec of growth is vibrant international trade, To transact through the exchangr on srooed standard means of measurement, estimation, and commun cat This re well-defined number system and units of measurement for length, wight, time ened vein al these for granted today. Little did we know or think about where ‘all these o! __ Numba Syste Unt of Maasuremant 141 1ed through the ages. We shall dwell on these lsues in this Ber SYSTEM IN INDIA~HISTORICAL EVIDENCE yment of mathematical concepts is well ters from the West have time and again 6a NUI ne contribu Biwn and enowledged ‘+ Bosed on extensive res ta show chat modern ni his aspect, as evident from the search, Ifrah presented evidence from Europe and the Arabic world timber systems indeed originated In India. Using several references, 'a14 CE, he presented several observations of the past writers on The Ingenious method of expressing every possible number using a (each symbol having a place value and an absolute value) emerged ity es in the way le foclitatd calelaton and placed arte sel in India. Its sim foremost amongst useful inventions + In is book on India, composed around 1030 CE, Jor ealeulation according to their numer a Tas acc hier cl Jor erehmete, And Just os the shape of the letes tot they ue fr wring seen Jr ierent regions of thelr county, 0 the numerical symbols vary iruni wrote, Whilst we use leters A number of archaeological excavations supplement the linguistic evidence provided By pout the maturity and supremacy ofthe Indian mathematical foundations. ty the Indus-Saraswati Civilization were highly standardized. For instance, ‘Rajasthan, India) had street widths elibangam, 18 m, 36 m, SA m, and 7.2m‘. These were Standard dimensions of 1, 2, 3, and 4 Dhan dTamusced in the section on measurements) respectively Such widths are found at other sites also. The excavations stHarappa, Mohenjo Daro, Dholavra, and Lothal show that Several constructions were done using fired bricks of Standard dimensions and fine geometrical and material quality. The dimensions of the bricks appeared to be Standard with length « width = depth in the rato 4:2:1 Weights and linear measures f lar pattern across sites spanning several hundred kilometres rete the ue ofa standard unit of measurement at that time, signaling mature mathematical ing vee Arthaséstra, there is a mention of two types of Dhanus as units for measuring lends tances; Dhanus = 96 Aigulas; Gathapatya-dhanus = 108 Angulas used fr measurems™e afroads and distances. The oldest dated Indian document containing a mamber writen place value fornet that we use today Is a legal document dated S94 CE from the Bharviachiha (or Broach) region in Gujarat. In an inscription at Gwalior dated ‘Samvat '933' in the Vikrama Calendar (876 CE) the numbers 50 and 270 were recorded with a small Circle sppeanig & the appropriate positional place for zero. An ancient Indian jown as the Bhaksbali mame re aes ed ina eld in 188% giving evidence ofthe east recorded use of142. invodueton to Indian Knowledge System=Concopts and Appications zero. Carbon dating of this has Te ‘century CE. An inscription found on a t CE is another recorded example of a ze1 6.2 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE INDIAN NUMERAL SYSTEM, “The Indian numeral system has along history. The origin and the evolution ofthe nu Be aa Ge tie ofthe Vette period. Being an oral trediton, love all shai ames were to be attributed to the nun erefore, as early as the Reveda time, they of numbers and unique names preva cae rs. The rst nine digits have unigue tng a). There are unigue names fo amis ; atvdrinsat, pact st apt a ete tata) Beyond 100, thee ha been the use of names for numbers, which end we Tay large numbers There are many references inthe lteratre pointing tothe ue of ah number names ‘The catalogue of the Sui dynasty (610 CE), astronomy and mathematics, which are no longer extant. Records from the seventh century ( ‘Tang dynasty), suggest 1 astronomers were employed nomical Board of Chang imed Gautama Siddhirds ted In the Indian Siddhdntas ‘Mansur (753-774 CE) from Sin as evident from? ten during 820 CE fon and the exact translated nto L28 Mercere the Idan decimal plac ave system reached a leas pesage trout to Nesurlan Buhop Serer Sebokt (662 Cl By swarm, he orton of don nbrcion mt Erect aa oper cope 12th Century CE and there were several Commentaries in Latin on ‘numerals to Europe, via the Arab world, Spain played an imports: meen a spun and eas from Si Pe Of the spread. Fibonacci (1170-1250 CE) learnt the Indian numerals during his avs North Aftica, Egypt, Syria and Sicly and wrote a book bringing these aspects into focus. Th ee westwards conned sow, csplacing Roman numerals. was simply a mate of ie Dew numeri were pu owe by the tankers, traders and merchants for tel daly esa (2009), “A Passage to Infinity: Medieval Indian Mathematics from Kerala 20 develope One can appreciate the imy portance of the Indian numeral system in scientific Wthe olowing contributions are understood, es 4 Alegacy of using large numbers with unique number names for these aT 27 Developing a robust place value system for the numerals Ne concept of zero and its use beyond being a placeholder . 4 Adecit [Amujogadvaresita-_|Numberofhuman | Source: Datel a Juinahontcal work | Beings inthe world Singh (1982), Freer ton ofthese two numbers reveals the serious limitations ofthe Roman system of (200 BCE) ‘+The three Roman numbers havea varying numberof digs (7 7 and 3 especie) ‘Ancient Indians developed a systematic approach to the number-names tht te The tree Raman numbers Me Gigk numer Ths mes compreension of he tions were employed to dee? ‘numbers extremely cumbersome. describe large numbers. Three categories of naming convent the number names in Sanskrit: 1. Allnumbers in the unit di mit to the numbers that one can represent using Roman '000 using the Roman system we need to repeat ea ae 2. hee win be anetas To represataatinbes 422 32 umes! Th ten thee igh umbersbave an unegal When three it nant ian oboe © (eee alates cPeene me cemihecseot3o7 and 107 es aie eet ec cabential (eee areata from 0 to 9 had unique names (Sanya, ekam. te A 2. all numbers in the range of 111 99 had an ative principe for naming, 45 was 5 + 40 (paiica-catvarimSat), 18 was 8 + 10 ¥ the subtracting principle was employed (for example, 4, Allnumbers of higher powers of 10 starting from 10" were named use Principle using the unit digits as factors for multiplication. Fos em#™ Sa eh ew fo perf Sl 8 x 1000 (asta-sahasram) and 70,000 was 7 * 10, (sapta-ayuta) oe en numbers have the same number of eters aah century CE reaear oe in this manner ssi wress any number unambiguously 07¢= 2 {asin the case of 397 and 928) itis still not possible 5 a a aes ee to use any simple mathematical operations such as addition on sublracton Ot them vansble for scientific purposes which often pose names for the successive powers of ten were established. to get a result. Therefore, it is not S sierra ope 6.2.3. Place Value of Numerals Tas rcs vss at eng som at a clr Oe eth vi BE ee fe nants! no fom 0 Ce a ed ure 10 emis Fant tin be represented wih ir is en The use of large numbers requires a sophisticated number syste oe towards handling large numbers and performing Uy Embraced by the later period mathematidans and scenes are Indian's gift to mankind is a mature and comple ec the Agni purana, it is mentioned, “.. In case of multiples fro ‘ach place is ten times the value of the preceding place... S! mentioned, “.. from one place to the next in the successio The eighteenth place is called parardha..”®. In the Sartraka-bI Se os148 _tirodvetion to Indian Knowledge Systom=Concopts and Appi 6.2.4 Decimal System arithmetic, algebra and geometry. Since this is a treatise on mathemat It begins with some definitions of number systems in vogue and units ‘The 12th verse in the chapter has a description of numbers from 1 to 10” in multiples of ten. Each of these is identified with a unique name. What is also interesting is that Bhaskaracarya observed in the verse that this place value system was already in use by his ancestors. The numbers mentioned in the verse are given in Table 6.2 below: TABLE 6.2 Decimal System of Numbers Mentioned in Lilava Te (ea) 1 (20%) | FT (Prayuta)- 10% (Million) | FETE] (Mahapadia) - 102 ea (data) 107 ate (Ko) — 107 ‘area (Safa) - 10" 14 (Sata) = 107 a7 (Arbuda) - 10° HER (ahasra)-10" | eH (Abja)- 10° Billion) 55 (Ayuta)—10" | 8 (Kharva)- 10" 5 (Lakga)—10° | Frerf (Nikharva) — 10 ‘=a (Antya)- 10 ‘o (Madhya) -10!* ‘werd (Pardrdha) - 10!7 6.3 UNIQUE APPROACHES TO REPRESENT NUMBERS Ancient Indian mathematics seamlessly integrated —————aaaenvaa = , usta 1 snd Sapha denotes — d Saph ; govern what qualifies to be used from the ‘bhiita’ list to represent the lowing are some of the categories from which we frequently find words ‘samkya being used: Word name for the number itself— Sanya, eka, dvi tri ava hysical entities such as earth, moon, stars, mountain, fie, sky. direction :xamples from the animal kingdom such as elephant, horse, snake Parts of the body eyes, limbs, seven dhatus, etc. (©) Names of Gods ~Siva, Visnu, Indra, Manu, Agni, etc. (0) Other concepts such as seasons, month, days, five bhiitas 4s evident from the above, It is an open-ended list, and it is up to the user to choose an ‘appropriate word. It is also contingent on the part of the reader to be aware of the terms and their synonyms. The advantage of the system is the ability of the user to beautifully merge ‘aesthetics and literature into mathematical ideas that he/she wants to communicate through some verses. Table 6.3 has a representative set of word numerals for the bhita-samkhya system. an Mathematics, the numbers are mentioned in the order of units, tens, hundred, etc: (Left to right). Let us deduce the numbers for a few examples using the Bhita- samkhya system given in Table 6.3: 1, eirreraat: (veda-vedaiika-candrah) he words and associate the numbers to them. Veda (#): Veda (4): Anka (). Therefore, the number is 1944. 2. nfecrara: (khadri-ramagnayah) Kha (0); Adri (7); Rama (3); Agni (3). Therefore, the number is 3370. 3. Qrerrefeargrareracpt- Three generic measures are used in the dian system pertaining to length, The conribton of andent eoetapmens of mathemati decir $e Sindation for arts wei an the foundation ores of he world» Several messes fave been in onve 2 sanieant Tear the length angen esi ni en aclogtal excvations anda setae meurenents ret gone pronaed bythe coy len siting ret esceners guste eee’ tury and supremssy > Tie san imporant ape 10 neler Tine indian mathematical foundations. they werrterestegin suing theo of story the UnveseFurthemere, studies peta The nan nara ca atic arate (aslo ad Aavonor) 2 sels event fom te De orign othe _fegues means pani Hie rdaeclonal dees, Tigverruedtiom > detaled dexpion of wiht 29 the time of the Vedic period ‘essential requirement for Ayurveda to mix 1 The concent of zero was established Serr dents corecy whe formations ra cer i S00 300 CE and was uly are prepared developed by 600 CE. > When dealing with mathemati Sy delaoyedlasevtanatey tmenalobiber eee eater fect a eran tht cay, cone isal eereaUE Gevoped to describe large numbers ermment nurbers were develored + Themmethod of wing limited set of purrs Purode The mate of god rg > Gandara ruc se rtboat depending» Cetogs inci foal defn of the Ind sar tenet aenee sere, fundamentals of Menct famber ste, ndsome terest etn combintorl mates The Indian numeral system has 2 fone, eal concepts ly used to thods to for this ‘on which place system is an 26 >The decimal number system originated in nda. ‘much before its use in the West, REVIEW QUESTIONS sur the Indlan Mathematical tradition based on historical evidence. 2. When was the concept of zero discovered in India? 3. What are the advantages of the Indian numeral stem ‘what ists special significance? Nove the Roman numerals? Explain with the help of a few examples. 4. What are the key characteristics ofa PI 5. What do you understand by the term ymerals? Hows it advantageous? “did it originate and what are J fe system of nl “decimal system? Where vantages? 4 Filup the table below with correct answers Tae Times 1 Dhanus = Dianumasl [10 Laghus = __} 5 Bharas = Karga_ ‘1 Goruta = Dashes: 1 Muharta Kasia Afgan wins!158 10. a 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Introduction to Incian tion to Indian Knowledge System=Concepts and Applications Indian mathematic: lest = sis seamlessly linked with Literature a Provide some examples to support your arguments. Smeal What are the uses of a word or letter al = numeral system? ‘What are the differences between th a ces between the katapayadi system and bha Why is a bhiita-samkhya system called so? ed Identify the number ja xs represented by the bhita-samkhya (@_rimachandra-guna-nanda-rtu-padah Se eel (©) guna-adri-tr-veda-nayana-bhujangab (©) pirna-kha-Sastra-gruha-nanda-risi-vedah Use Table 63 andrew the numbers Below ts (@) 179532,.695 ie ete oa” (b) 345,447 (©) 670,087,123 Te! answer Gat ou chrsne or Question 1, express hem See es Gate ang ease Ident the numbers represented bythe aap sytem in the fle (@) SFSTERA Gnandamrtam) "ce (D) carremer(aletbandhanctsvah) (©) FT Tera: (koronarajanasakab) What is a binary cycle? Can you develo ifs ee tose binary cycle of length four and identify all pte TOG ih teat etna as ear subject that has attracted considerable atu imes. Several attempts have been made to ‘issue. Watch this ie feaeee Baca to ‘Mathematics, Part Ske hts prea watching the video areal, prepare a write-up f answer We ltt (2) What are the mln contribuons of contributions of ancient Indians tothe number system? 1) Warrenty fhe umber 7H der nr to scien? are the contribution of Brahmagupa In use of numbers ln mathemati? nds contin to the word of mater Tus es ere is not much other than this contribution. © pore ians in a number of areas of mathe development of mathenatcalhoght and appaton na ane! W) the sch ro CC Rat on ete t the ar nd of mai a ace the link: https://youtu.be/22u23D5AgaE. After watching the video Pe re pge Rte hat covers ansvers tthe lowing Gustin 6 ee ‘and their significance. the inp aan salient aspects of Madhava's sine table (katapayadi)? ‘what is the (0. Whats the value of tradonal knowledge in mathematics? Do we need I methine sc a a a “Jncient and Medieval Indio, Chaukhamba Orintalia, New Deli. ‘Mumbai Bait oun Th Meco of ne: ots Meds Cen AE Pook. “Agency), New Delhi. ovami Cand Shasts MA. osm 178-182. (2010), Srimad Bhagavota Mohdpurbne, Part Gta Press Corp 1é Measurement inthe Twelfth Century: story Review, 41(3), pp: 237-268. vena jandRaagopal (2008) "Urban Geograph 3 one ‘Case of Kanchipuram”. tian Economic and So iran (2004). The Universal History of Numbers, Penees Books, New Delhi osep, c-. (2009). “A passage t0 Infinit Medieval Indian Mathematics from Kerala and Its Impact age, New Delhi Joseph, .c. (2016). Indion Mathematics Scientific, London. Lal, BB, (1997). The Ea Patwardhan, KS. Naim} ‘New Delhi Plotker, K. (1963). Mathematics Prabhakar Rao, G. (2008). Bhaisajya Engaging withthe Word from Ancien to Modern Times, World sation of South Asia, Aryan Books International, New Del ly, SA. and Singh, S.- (2001) Laat of Bhaskaran, Motilal Banarsidass, ia, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, USA. Hatpand Vijtdnam, Chaukhamba Publications, New Del pp. 107-118. oh (2007), “Cultural Foundations of Indian Mathematicr Cente 2s ‘eudies in Civilization, New ‘Delhi. tumrrpyamanaian, K. (2015). ;Ganltinads" sleced works of Radha Charan GHP &° History of ian Soctety for History of Mathematics, New Del Mathematics id Medieval India, Motlal Banarsiass, 2nd ed Sarasvati Amma, T.A. (1999). Geometry In Ancient an New Delhi shamasastry, R, (1929). Kautilya’s Arthasastro, Wesleyan Mission Pres Sharma, Vi. and Bhardwal, H.C. (1969). “Weighing Devices in Ancient of Scence, 24(4), pp. 92) See Srinivasiengar, CN. (1988). The History of Anclr ‘Swam{ Chinmayananda (2014). “Taitiriya Upantsad’, Gentral 3rd ed, pp. 113-121. ‘Indian Journal of History tan Mathematics. The World Press, Kolkata, ‘Chinmaya Mission Trust, pp: 222-240. ENDNOTES 1 rt Itfah, G. (2004), The Universal History of Numbers, Penguin Books: PP- 11-18. 2 tia 3 ees e205) Kerala and Its Impact, a ’assage to Infinl ieval Indian “Mathematics from Keral GSS A ee to Infinity: Medi ears ties oval y sur om nye tee eee etn ae {erate apa et... nape sukhamasti bhamaiva sukham 723; * ant ci To So a thas amram tha Jp, nme car more details 5, Ae ae apy Uponigd, vata Ashrams S57-550 “ s