Letters to the Editor

The importance of India’s zero

Dear Editor,

The following is an important news update. It is, in fact, announcing history!

I had thought podometic was to be an important and long overdue update of the Hindu number system. However I have just had two mathematics professors confirm that when I launch my free e-books in India, I will be correcting a mistake in mathematics that has lasted 2300 years! Please let me explain...

In the west, one of the world’s most famous mathematicians is Euclid. He wrote a series of books called The Elements, which is second only to the Bible for editions published. Euclid wrote The Elements in 300 BC. In it he defined multiplication (Book 7

Definition 15) as: “A number is said to multiply a number when the latter is added as many times to itself as there are units in the former”. This is a 2300-year old definition of multiplication.

The above definition is taught to maths teachers by maths professors all over the world. For example Professor Wu (a research mathematician) wrote the following*: “Sometimes we refer to ‘mk’ as the product of ‘m’ and ‘k’, and call ‘m’ and ‘k’ the factors of ‘mk’. We call attention to the fact that ‘mk’, the multiplication of ‘k’ by ‘m’, is a shorthand notation for adding ‘k’ to itself ‘m’ times, no more and no less. Please be sure to impress this fact on your students.”

One of the reasons I was confused by maths as a child was that it appeared illogical

Workshop – Ashok Chakradhar 18 May, 3:30 – 5:00 pm at Parramatta Town Hall, International Hindi Grammar Teaching- Current State and Direction- a symposium by Bageshri Chakradhar Bhavan Australia has invited Dr Ashok Chakradhar (a wellknown Hindi poet and scholar), Vice Chairman, Central Hindi Institute, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India; and Dr Bageshri Chakradhar (a wellknown poet in her own right and Hindi scholar), Associate Professor, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University –deputed by University Grant Commission, Government of India to preside over symposiums on the Hindi language.

Star Gazing at Parramatta Park

Sat 28 April Come along and share the mystery of our place in the universe at Parramatta Park’s popular Star Gazing @ Parramatta Park. There will be up to 20 telescopes provided by members of the amateur astronomical societies who will be there to share their knowledge with you, or you can bring your own telescope and get pointers on its use from fellow enthusiasts.

5.30pm to 8.00pm. Dr Ragbir Bhathal of UWS will be presenting a talk entitled ‘The scientific achievements of the Parramatta observatory’, at 6.00pm. Details Susan Clunie 02 8833-5020.

OzSpell Challenge

OzSpell Challenge, a new Australia-wide spelling competition, is sponsored by Macquarie Dictionary and targets students aged 1014. The Grand Final will be held at the Seymour Centre, the University of Sydney in August 2012. The Champion of Champions (based on one district finalist from each of 150 Australian federal electorates) will take home $5,000 cash and $5,000 cash for their school’s library resources. Details visit www. ozspell.com.au or calling 1300 ozspell (1300 697 735).

Sydney Sakhi Sangam to me. If three times four was three added to itself four times as 3 + 3 + 3 + 3, than why are there only three addition steps and not four? There are only three addition signs. Of course everybody knows that 3 x 4 = 12, yet the repeated addition in the equation was not logical. So Professor Wu and other professors write books for maths teachers to teach children something that seems odd to children.

Sun 24 June Sakhi Sangam will be held this year at the Croatian Club. Details Nandini 0423 684 340, Susham 0411 967 374, Aruna 0410 338 900.

However, in my opinion, Euclid’s formula for multiplication used for the last 2300 years is wrong! The repeated addition is not to ‘itself’, it is to zero. I wrote to Professor Joyce, one of the world’s leading experts on Euclid to ask how could Euclid be wrong? I said that ‘mk’ is ‘m’ added to zero ‘k’ times. (mk is ‘m’ added to itself, ‘k’-1 times).

So 4 x 3 = 0 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3, and now it makes sense as there are four addition signs.

Professor Joyce reminded me that Euclid didn’t think of ‘zero’ as a number as it hadn’t been invented yet. That was to come about 900 years later in India.

So this is amazing news! The world had not updated its definition of multiplication for 1400 years since the creation of zero in India! That is one reason why children dislike mathematics around the world!

Professor Joyce has now corrected Euclid’s definition for multiplication on his website after I wrote to him. So when we release our stories, we will now be able to joke that Podo the Puppy is smarter than the world’s most famous mathematician in history! Seriously, nearly all dictionaries say multiplication means “added to itself”, rather than added to India’s zero.

What is 1 x 1 according to Euclid? One added to itself one time, which is two. Wrong!

What is 1 x 1 according to us? One added to India’s zero one time which is one! Right! Nobody knows this in India, yet they will soon! The world will soon focus its attention on India’s zero because they forgot to do so after it was translated into Arabic, Latin and English.

Jonathan Crabtree

Author, Podometic e-books

*http://math.berkeley. edu/~wu/EMI1c.pdf

DRAFT of his latest book

“Understanding Numbers in Elementary School Mathematics”