March 07, 2017 Tuesday
Bedtime Story
A Little Trasnlated Abstract from Liber Abaci (1202) on Modus Indorum
Let me continue with Fibonacci’s Modus Indorum of his Liber Abaci.
Keep in mind mon ami, this is something that was penned down
somewhere between 1995 and 1202 in Italy, possible on the shores of the
Mediterranean and finally published in its full glory in 1202.
This is as magical as it gets when it comes to the power of words
in writing.
“There from a marvelous instruction in the art of the nine Indian
figures, the introduction and the knowledge of the art pleased me so much above
all else, and I learnt from them, whoever was learned in it, from nearby Egypt,
Syria, Greece, Sicily and Provence, and from their various methods, to which
locations of business I travelled considerable afterwards for much study, and I
learnt from the assembled disputations.
But this, on the whole, the algorithm and even the Pythagorean
arcs, I still reckoned almost an error compared to the Indian method.
Therefore strictly embracing the Indian method, and attentive to
the study of it, from mine own sense adding some, and some more still from the
subtle Euclidean geometric art, applying the sum that I was able to perceive to
this book, I worked to put it together in XV distinct chapters, showing certain
proof for almost everything that I put it, so that further, this method
perfected above the rest, this science is instructed to the eager, and to the
Italian people above all others, who up to now are found without a minimum.
If, by chance, something less or more proper or necessary I
omitted, your indulgence for me is entreated, as there is no one without fault,
and in all things is altogether circumspect.
The nine Indian figures are 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
With these nine figures and with the sign 0 which the Arabs call
zephyr any number whatsoever can be written…”
As you can plainly see, Fibonacci was propagating the use of the
digits 0 to 9 and the place value.
You will be very surprised to know that until then, even as late
as 1200, Europe was using Roman numerals which made the development of modern
mathematics virtually impossible.
There is another little curiosity that is seen in this magical
arithmetic book Liber Abaci.
No Sir, I am not talking about those notorious Fibonacci numbers
made famous even to the mathematics-haters in the bestseller Da Vinci Code.
In this book the idea of breaking large numbers into chunks of
three to make them more legible is also introduced (that is of common practice
even today).
It is not sure to me whether it was Fibonacci’s own original idea
or not, but it is present and used in his book.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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