Chennai :

If you think poetry and mathematics don’t get along, you are wrong. An interesting feature of Indian mathematics is that it is composed in verse, said K, noted mathematician and a professor at IIT Bombay. “Mathematicians successfully managed to couch a variety of formulae in beautiful verses. Among the Indian mathematicians, Bhaskaracarya is held very high,” he said.

Ramasubramanian said Bhaskaracarya, whose main treatise on mathematics is ‘Lilavati’ written in 1150AD, systematically developed a topic – whether it is arithmetic, geometry, algebra or astronomy. He would build on what had been already introduced.

“Lucid exposition of the subject was his hallmark. The examples presented by him are quite appealing, rich and varied. It involved characters from mythology and nature. He also drew a number of incidents from day-to-day life to solve problems in maths,” he said. was speaking at a two-day workshop on Bhaskaracarya’s contributions to mathematics and astronomy on the eve of his 900th birth anniversary.

Talking on ‘The Lila of Lilavati’, said when he started learning mathematics, the teacher would simply ‘teach’ a solution and present a set of formulae. “We were expected to learn the technique, memorise the formulae, and then work out those problems given at the end of the chapter, repeatedly.

I do not recall a single problem that could be related to practical life – as given in ‘Lilavati’. Texts on Indian mathematics, soon after enunciating a rule or principle, present plenty of examples from day-to-day life – all in the form of beautiful verses. Making students aware of the major achievements of their own civilization is the need of the hour,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / January 30th, 2015