scholarly journals On the Indian tradition of mathematical names: A scientific analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Karn ◽  
Brett Rosiejka ◽  
Pankaj Badoni ◽  
Raman Kumar Singh

The current paper explores the tenuous interlink between names of individuals in a society and its collective social consciousness, particularly with reference to the pervasive occurrence of the ‘mathematical names’ in the current Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Initially, an attempt is made to put things into mathematical perspective by drawing a quick sketch of the mathematical achievements of the Indian mathematicians. Then, under the six broad categories of geometry, trigonometry, numeration, arithmetic, algebra and mathematics in the Vedic tradition, a concise layman description of these subdivisions are presented, underlining the names of the concepts and terms, sometimes by producing the textual references. Next, upon identification of such mathematical terms, these names are juxtaposed with the names current in the Indian Hindu setting. By employing an extensive dataset of university student names in India and the databases of Facebook and LinkedIn, we produce both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the presence of such names in the Indian subcontinent. Evidently, these names reflect impressions of the rich mathematical heritage left by the Hindu stalwart mathematicians. This hypothesis has also been examined by taking surveys of people bearing these mathematical names, as well as by documenting the ‘conscious procedures’ that go behind the naming of a Hindu Indian child. In trying to investigate if such a phenomenon is unique to the Indian tradition, a stark contrast with the ‘names in mathematics’ as prevalent in the European mathematical traditions is presented, as cultural roots of mathematics are explored. Further, we ascribe the presence of these names as the extant remains of the colossal impact of multifarious mathematical traditions existing in India. In fact, the present research also brings to the fore, certain unseen facets of the Indian Hindu society as regards the education of mathematics to women – through an indirect exploration of their names. We then show that the pervasive occurrence of these names are not merely the result of semantic chance events, but denote the richness of the Indian mathematical legacy. We also present cross-cultural comparisons to show the uniqueness of Indian mathematical and scientific traditions that led to the pervasiveness of ‘mathematical names’ in India. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify some subtle points on the associations between mathematics and religion in India and other cultures of the world. It is a sincere hope that the present study may shed light on the cultural roots of mathematics and may provide a different dimension in the study of mathematics and society, across other civilizations.

Author(s):  
Ashish Karn ◽  
Brett Rosiejka ◽  
Pankaj Badoni ◽  
Raman Kumar Singh

The current paper explores the tenuous interlink between names of individuals in a society and its collective social consciousness, particularly with reference to the pervasive occurrence of the ‘mathematical names’ in the current Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Initially, an attempt is made to put things into mathematical perspective by drawing a quick sketch of the mathematical achievements of the Indian mathematicians. Then, under the six broad categories of geometry, trigonometry, numeration, arithmetic, algebra and mathematics in the Vedic tradition, a concise layman description of these subdivisions are presented, underlining the names of the concepts and terms, sometimes by producing the textual references. Next, upon identification of such mathematical terms, these names are juxtaposed with the names current in the Indian Hindu setting. By employing an extensive dataset of university student names in India and the databases of Facebook and LinkedIn, we produce both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the presence of such names in the Indian subcontinent. Evidently, these names reflect impressions of the rich mathematical heritage left by the Hindu stalwart mathematicians. This hypothesis has also been examined by taking surveys of people bearing these mathematical names, as well as by documenting the ‘conscious procedures’ that go behind the naming of a Hindu Indian child. In trying to investigate if such a phenomenon is unique to the Indian tradition, a stark contrast with the ‘names in mathematics’ as prevalent in the European mathematical traditions is presented, as cultural roots of mathematics are explored. Further, we ascribe the presence of these names as the extant remains of the colossal impact of multifarious mathematical traditions existing in India. In fact, the present research also brings to the fore, certain unseen facets of the Indian Hindu society as regards the education of mathematics to women – through an indirect exploration of their names. We then show that the pervasive occurrence of these names are not merely the result of semantic chance events, but denote the richness of the Indian mathematical legacy. We also present cross-cultural comparisons to show the uniqueness of Indian mathematical and scientific traditions that led to the pervasiveness of ‘mathematical names’ in India. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify some subtle points on the associations between mathematics and religion in India and other cultures of the world. It is a sincere hope that the present study may shed light on the cultural roots of mathematics and may provide a different dimension in the study of mathematics and society, across other civilizations.


Author(s):  
Ashish Karn ◽  
Brett Rosiejka ◽  
Pankaj Badoni ◽  
Raman Kumar Singh

The current paper explores the potential interlink between names of individuals in a society and its collective social consciousness, particularly with reference to the pervasive occurrence of the ‘mathematical names’ in the current Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Initially, an attempt is made to put things into mathematical perspective by drawing a quick sketch of some of the stellar achievements of the Indian mathematicians. Under the six broad categories of geometry, trigonometry, numeration, arithmetic, algebra, and mathematics in the Vedic tradition, a concise simple description of these subdivisions is presented, underlining the names of the concepts and terms, sometimes by producing the textual references. Then, upon identification of such mathematical terms, an attempt is made to juxtapose these with the names current in the Indian Hindu society. By employing an extensive dataset of university student names in India and the directories of Facebook and LinkedIn, we produce both qualitative and quantitative evidence of the presence of such names in the Indian subcontinent. Evidently, these names reflect the impressions of the tremendously rich mathematical heritage left by the Hindu stalwart mathematicians. This hypothesis has also been examined by taking surveys of people bearing these mathematical names, as well as by documenting the ‘conscious procedures’ that go behind the naming of a Hindu Indian child. In trying to investigate if such a phenomenon is unique to the Indian tradition, a stark contrast with the ‘names in mathematics’ as prevalent in the European mathematical traditions is presented, as cultural roots of mathematics are explored. Further, we ascribe the presence of these names as the extant remains of the colossal impact of multifarious mathematical traditions existing in India. Interestingly, the present research also brings to the fore, certain unseen facets of the Indian Hindu society as regards the education of mathematics to women – through an indirect exploration of their names. We also show that the pervasive occurrence of these names is not merely the result of semantic chance events, but denotes the richness of the Indian mathematical legacy. Next, we also present cross-cultural comparisons to show the uniqueness of Indian mathematical and scientific traditions that led to the pervasiveness of ‘mathematical names’ in India. Finally, an attempt is made to clarify some subtle points on the associations between mathematics and religion in India and other cultures of the world. It is sincerely hoped that the present study may shed light on the cultural roots of mathematics and may furnish a new dimension in the study of mathematics, culture and civilizations across the world.


2011 ◽  
pp. 15-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Galley ◽  
Eilidh Garrett ◽  
Ros Davies ◽  
Alice Reid

This article examines the extent to which living siblings were given identical first names. Whilst the practice of sibling name-sharing appeared to have died out in England during the eighteenth century, in northern Scotland it persisted at least until the end of the nineteenth century. Previously it has not been possible to provide quantitative evidence of this phenomenon, but an analysis of the rich census and vital registration data for the Isle of Skye reveals that this practice was widespread, with over a third of eligible families recording same-name siblings. Our results suggest that further research should focus on regional variations in sibling name-sharing and the extent to which this northern pattern occurred in other parts of Britain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (21) ◽  
pp. eabe9492
Author(s):  
Paul Brookes ◽  
Giovanna Tancredi ◽  
Andrew D. Patterson ◽  
Joseph Rahamim ◽  
Martina Esposito ◽  
...  

Critical slowing down of the time it takes a system to reach equilibrium is a key signature of bistability in dissipative first-order phase transitions. Understanding and characterizing this process can shed light on the underlying many-body dynamics that occur close to such a transition. Here, we explore the rich quantum activation dynamics and the appearance of critical slowing down in an engineered superconducting quantum circuit. Specifically, we investigate the intermediate bistable regime of the generalized Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian (GJC), realized by a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) system consisting of a transmon qubit coupled to a microwave cavity. We find a previously unidentified regime of quantum activation in which the critical slowing down reaches saturation and, by comparing our experimental results with a range of models, we shed light on the fundamental role played by the qubit in this regime.


2014 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 454-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
TARIQ THACHIL

Why do poor people often vote against their material interests? This article extends the study of this global paradox to the non-Western world by considering how it manifests within India, the world's biggest democracy. Arguments derived from studies of advanced democracies (such as values voting) or of poor polities (such as patronage and ethnic appeals) fail to explain this important phenomenon. Instead, I outline a novel strategy predicated on an electoral division of labor enabling elite parties to recruit the poor while retaining the rich. Recruitment is outsourced to nonparty affiliates that provide basic services to appeal to poor communities. Such outsourcing permits the party to maintain programmatic linkages to its elite core. Empirically, I test this argument with qualitative and quantitative evidence, including a survey of more than 9,000 voters. Theoretically, I argue that this approach is best suited to elite parties with thick organizations, typically those linked to religious social movements.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Batt

Nearly every monthly magazine published in the eighteenth century had a poetry section, a regular slot given over in each issue to poetic expression of all kinds, written by a broad range of writers, both male and female, provincial and metropolitan, amateur and established. This chapter assesses the place that women poets, both familiar and unfamiliar, occupied in the rich poetic culture that made magazines possible. Jennifer Batt’s case studies are drawn from national periodicals such as the Gentleman’s Magazine (1731–1922), London Magazine (1732–85) and British Magazine (1746–51), as well as from regional magazines. Collectively, these examples shed light on the possibilities that periodicals made available to female poets (of giving them a voice, a readership, a public profile and place within a poetic community). At the same, Batt demonstrates that women could be exploited by the medium and its editorial practices (publishing without author consent, for instance, or intrusive framing of poems) in ways that have overdetermined women poets’ critical reception.


2011 ◽  
pp. 158-170
Author(s):  
Murat Çetin

This chapter aims to shed light on the nature of architecture, its technological and cultural ramifications on tourism industry. It elucidates the background of issues regarding the interaction between the fields of cultural production (architecture) and cultural consumption (tourism). The chapter argues that power of tourism industry has reached, under the pressure of global economics, to a capacity to turn even daily architecture into instruments of touristic show. In this context, technology is utilized as an instrument to produce such iconography only as a surface articulation. Thus, architecture becomes a commodity of touristic consumption in this current socio-economic and cultural context. The pressure of tourism industry seems to create a significant split between the architecture and its location in terms of specific cultural roots. This tendency is discussed as a potential threat to sustainability of tourism industry itself since it damages its own very source, that is to say, richness of cultural differences.


Author(s):  
David Zamorano-Garcia ◽  
Paula Flores-Morcillo ◽  
María Isabel Gil-García ◽  
Miguel Ángel Aguilar-Jurado

This chapter aims to shed light on the relationship between the development of laterality and the learning of mathematics in early childhood education using the ABN method. Thus, the authors present an experience developed with 24 children of 4 and 5 years old from several sessions of physical education where laterality and mathematics were worked on in the framework of a project developed in the classroom. The neuropsychological laterality test and a psychomotor table with values referred exclusively to manual and foot laterality, and indicators referred to the ABN method were used as evaluation instruments. The results obtained indicate that students with homogeneous right- or left-handed laterality obtain better results, as well as those with crossed laterality, since they have defined their manual and foot dominance. However, students with undefined laterality obtain worse results, even showing a lateral tendency towards the use of the right side of the body.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
OLIVER P. HAUSER ◽  
GORDON T. KRAFT-TODD ◽  
DAVID G. RAND ◽  
MARTIN A. NOWAK ◽  
MICHAEL I. NORTON

AbstractFour experiments examine how lack of awareness of inequality affect behaviour towards the rich and poor. In Experiment 1, participants who became aware that wealthy individuals donated a smaller percentage of their income switched from rewarding the wealthy to rewarding the poor. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants who played a public goods game – and were assigned incomes reflective of the US income distribution either at random or on merit – punished the poor (for small absolute contributions) and rewarded the rich (for large absolute contributions) when incomes were unknown; when incomes were revealed, participants punished the rich (for their low percentage of income contributed) and rewarded the poor (for their high percentage of income contributed). In Experiment 4, participants provided with public education contributions for five New York school districts levied additional taxes on mostly poorer school districts when incomes were unknown, but targeted wealthier districts when incomes were revealed. These results shed light on how income transparency shapes preferences for equity and redistribution. We discuss implications for policy-makers.


Zootaxa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 1959 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. PRATHAPAN ◽  
K. N. ANITH ◽  
M. H. FAIZAL ◽  
M. LEKHA ◽  
M. K. DHANYA

The order Phasmatodea, the stick and leaf insects, include fewer crop pests than other phytophagous groups of insects. Bedford (1978) reviewed their biology and ecology. Outbreaks of stick insects on economically important plants are known from the USA (Graham, 1937), Fiji and other islands in the South Pacific (O’Connor, 1949; Paine, 1968), Australia (Key, 1991) and China (Hennemann, et. al., 2008). Lit and Eusebio (2008) described Pharnacia magdiwang (Phasmatidae) [a junior synonym of P. ponderosa Stål (Hennemann and Conle, 2008)], a minor pest on mango in the Philippines and listed eight species of stick insects associated with economically important plants. Phasmatodea of the Indian subcontinent are poorly known in spite of the rich diversity and none of them are known to be associated with crop plants.


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