Sorry about another of these, but I recently read an article briefly outlining the invention of zero (0) in mathematics: "The Invention of Zero: How Ancient Mesopotamia Created the Mathematical Concept of Nought and Ancient India Gave It Symbolic Form." Oddly, though, the author begins:
If the ancient Arab world had closed its gates to foreign travelers, we would have no medicine, no astronomy, and no mathematics — at least not as we know them today.
Not only is this complete balderdash, but the article nowhere else even mentions the Arab world or Arabs except as part of the term "pre-Arab Sumer" which, itself, is an odd-expression as Sumer predated Muslim control of southern Mesopotamia by more than 2,000 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment