The Ancient Indian civilization made many signifigent advances in fields of science including mathmatics, astronomy, chemistry and medicine. In India, mathematics has its roots in Vedic literature which is nearly 4000 years old. (Ifrah 52) Indians made many advances in Mathematics and Astronomy but also made more practical advances as in the applied sciences like production technology, architecture and shipbuilding. At it's peak, Indian society was influenced by many different thinkers and these people helped create new ideas which influence our lives to this very day.
In all early civilizations, mathematical understanding appears in the form of counting systems. (Juskevic 74) Numbers in very early societies were typically represented by groups of lines, though later different numbers came to be assigned specific numeral names and symbols as in India or were designated by alphabetic letters. ( Juskevic 76) Although today, we take our decimal system for granted, not all ancient civilizations based their numbers on a ten-base system.
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Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civiliz...In ancient Babylon, a sexagesimal (base 60) system was in use. (Juskevic 95) In India a decimal system was already in place during the Harappan period, as indicated by an analysis of Harappan weights and measures. (Juskevic, 98) Weights corresponding to ratios of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 have been identified, as have scales with decimal divisions. (Juskevic 101) A impressive characteristic of Harappan weights and measures is their accuracy. A bronze rod marked in units of 0.367 inches points to the degree of precision demanded in those times. (Juskevic 106) Such scales were particularly important in ensuring proper town planning rules that required fixed widths to run at right angles to each other for drains to be constructed of precise measurements, and for homes to be constructed according to specified guidelines. (Juskevic...