Marcus Du Sautoy is making a series for the Beebs on India's contributions to Math [thanks Ramya]. You've probably heard the popular regurgitation popular among Indians: 'India invented zero'. Do you know why and when? [In Our Time] Apparently, the concept of zero owes much to the ancient Indian obsession with Nothingness, the religious and philosophical notion of pre-existence.
More like this
We may have the answer to all of the big problems in physics! Or not.
My money is on "not".
Another of the great contributions of India is the study of grammar. The grammar of Panini is apparently the first formal exposition.
To formulate a grammar, there needs to be the concept of a null. A null suffix, for example.
Is there any historical connection between the mathematical zero and the grammatical null
both arising in India?
Have you checked out the In Our Time episode entirely devoted to Indian Maths?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20061214.shtml
>Is there any historical connection between the mathematical zero and the grammatical null both arising in India?
That's new to me. Coming from the south of India, I am more familiar with Tamil (a classical language comparable to greek and sanskrit, but unlike the others still alive and spoken).