NCERT’s New Class 7 Maths Textbook Highlights India’s Early Contributions To Algebra & Geometry

The recently released Class 7 mathematics textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) features several references to India’s ancient contributions to the field. It states that many key mathematical concepts, including algebra, were first developed by Indian mathematicians, according to a report by The Indian Express. This is the second part of NCERT’s Ganita Prakash textbook for Class 7. The first part, released earlier this year, also highlighted India’s mathematical heritage. The newly released Part 2 draws from Sanskrit texts, includes problems inspired by the work of ancient Indian scholars, and even discusses an early Indian text on geometry. One chapter in the book talks about integers, which are positive and negative numbers. It mentions the 7th-century mathematician Brahmagupta and his well-known text Brahmasphutasiddhanta. The textbook says this was the first time anyone clearly explained how to multiply and divide positive and negative numbers. It describes this as an important milestone in the history of mathematics because it helped shape both arithmetic and algebra. The chapter also includes Brahmagupta’s rules for these calculations and gives students a problem based on his methods. It adds that India’s work in algebra was among the earliest known in the world. A section on algebraic equations refers to ‘bijaganita’, a term now associated with algebra, and notes that “forming expressions using symbols and solving equations with such expressions was an important part of mathematical studies in ancient India”. The textbook explains how Brahmagupta worked with unknown quantities represented by letters, describing it as one of the earliest known examples of algebraic thinking. The book goes on to trace how Indian mathematical ideas travelled to the Arab world. “In the 8th century, Indian mathematical ideas were translated into Arabic,” it says, adding that these influenced Al-Khwarizmi, a mathematician from present-day Iraq. Around 825 CE, Al-Khwarizmi wrote Hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala, which means “calculation by restoring and balancing”. The textbook notes that his work was translated into Latin by the 12th century and spread to Europe. “The word al-jabr from his book gave us the word algebra, which we still use today,” it adds. It also lists the symbols that Indian mathematicians from Brahmagupta’s era used to represent unknowns and gives an example of a maths problem from Bijaganita, written by Bhaskaracharya in the 12th century. ALSO READ: JNUSU Polls: Left Unity Sweeps All 4 Central Posts After Close Contest With ABVP A chapter on geometry titled Constructions and Tilings describes the Sulba-Sutras, ancient Indian texts that explained how to construct perpendicular lines and bisectors using ropes. “Ancient mathematicians from different civilisations, including India, knew exact methods to construct perpendiculars and bisectors. In India, the earliest known texts containing these methods are the Sulba-Sutras, which deal with the construction of fire altars for rituals,” it says. The earlier Class 7 mathematics textbook did not contain any references to ancient Indian scholars. NCERT has been releasing new textbooks in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework, both of which call for including ‘Indian Knowledge Systems’ in school education.