March 08, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
From Numbers to Algebraic Notation; From Italy to France
You see mon ami, it was not that soon after the publication of
Liber Abaci the Hindu-Arabic numbers came into vogue all over Europe.
Everything takes time (and patience, which is why it is rated
among the top great virtues in human apes).
Moreover, even as the numbers were getting established there was
still the issue of algebraic variables.
It would be safe to say that by 1500 or so, three hundred years
after the publication of Liber Abaci, the numbers as we know of today got
pretty firmly established all over Europe.
Yet, even as late as 1600, algebra was pretty much primitive and
nothing even close to that we are accustomed to.
The next great and very little known personality in our story of
mathematical notation is the French mathematician François Viète (French) or
Franciscus Vieta (Latin version).
He arrived on this planet in 1540 in a place that is now called
Vendée and is located on the west most corner of France overlooking the
Atlantic Ocean.
It must be a picturesque place.
Vieta’s father was an attorney and so following on his father’s
footsteps he studied law in the city of Poitiers.
He seems to have been a smart advocate since from the very early
stage after completing his law he got entrusted with prominent cases.
Now get this straight; Franciscus Vieta was a very strange
mathematician.
What I mean to say is mathematicians are generally very odd
people; eccentric types who are not able to thrive in society and hence they
survive in the universities.
Vieta was not one of those.
He did very well for himself as he had a great knack for mixing
with the highest Calvinist aristocracy and serving them.
Besides law, he taught science and mathematics to a daughter of
aristocracy.
Later he moved to Paris and even joined the municipality which
must have brought him an additional income.
By the way, France in the times of Vieta was like South Asia and
Middle East; full of religious violence and massacres.
That period of history is known as the French Wars of Religions (or
the Huguenot wars) that was constantly fought between can you guess whom?
Christians and Moslems? No.
Hindus and Christians? No.
Sunni and Shias? No.
It was fought between the Roman Catholics and the Reformed
Protestants (or the Huguenots), both believers of Jesus and the same mythical
white-skinned, white-bearded Lord somewhere in the clouds.
The good and loving Christians then were neither so nice nor so
loving.
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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