[Download] "Mathematics in India (Book Review)" by The Journal of the American Oriental Society ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mathematics in India (Book Review)
- Author : The Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Release Date : January 01, 2010
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 172 KB
Description
Mathematics in India. By KIM PLOFKER. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2009. Pp. xiii + 357. Historians of mathematics encounter many hurdles when they try to understand the development of mathematics in India. The texts are composed in a highly compressed form in Sanskrit verse and very few are available in modern English translation. In many cases, the chronology of texts is still unsettled. Moreover, mathematics was not an independent discipline (sastra); it developed largely in the context of astronomy. Even the term ganita is not exclusive to mathematics, for it denotes mathematical astronomy as well. What is more, ganaka, the possible term to designate a mathematician, is more frequently used for astronomers and astrologers.