The son of Pisan custom official based in what is now Bejaia in Algeria, the young Fibonacci had immersed himself in what he called the 'Indian method' of mathematics, a combination of Indian and Arab insights. His introduction of these ideas was to revolutionize the ways Europeans counted. Nowadays he's best remembered for Fibonacci sequence of numbers*..
.. But the Fibonacci sequence was only one of the many Eastern mathematical ideas introduced to Europe in his path breaking book Liber Abaci, 'The Book of Calculation', which he published in 1202. In it, readers could find fractions explained, as well as the concept of presnet value (the discounted value today of a future revenue stream). Most important of all was Fibonacci's introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals.
(Footnote)
* The Fibonacci sequence appears in the Da Vinci Code, which is probably why most people have heard of it. However, the sequence first appeared, uner the name matrameru (mountain of cadence), in the work of the Sanskrit scholar Pingala.
Wait a minute. I was taught in my high school about Fibonacci. They didn't tell me about matrameru. This is plain wrong, this prof's research is incorrect.
No but seriously, what happened to us? We are the ones who know how to get a pyramid into a bus, train, and an airplane while the west still fancies making a line for it. Why are we standing last in the line of research with our history unknown among our own people. Why are we a footnote in the history that is being written now?
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