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Hello, mathematics from the Indian subcontinent have provided foundations for much of our

modern thinking on the subject.

They were thought to be the first to use zero as a number, our modern numerals have their

roots there too, and mathematicians in the area

that's now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were grappling with concepts such as

infinity centuries before Europe got to grips with it. There's even a suggestion

that Indian mathematicians discovered Pythagoras's

theorem before Pythagoras. Some of these advances have their basis in early religious

texts which describe the geometry necessary for building falcon-shaped altars of precise dimensions.

Astronomical calculations used to decide the dates of religious festivals also encourage

these mathematical developments.

So how are these advances passed on to the rest of the world?

And why was the contribution of mathematics from this area ignored by Europe for centuries?

Joining me to discuss this is George Giva Geese Joseph, and honorary reader in mathematics education at Manchester University.

Dennis Armida, Mathematics Educator at Exeter University and the Open University, and

Colberoni-Dougal lecturer in pure mathematics at the University of St Andrews.

George Joseph, the beginnings of Indian math can I'm told can be traced back to the Indus

civilization about two and a half thousand years BC in the main city of Harapah, which is now in Pakistan.

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