THE CONCEPT OF SUNYA

• Title Language: English
• Total Pages: xvi + 288
• ISBN: 9788173052408
• Edition: 1st
• Publisher: Aryan Books International
• Book Size: 18 cm x 25 cm
• Year of Publication: 2003

The concept of sunya in India has a long history and varied manifestations in different dimensions, in mathematics, in philosophy and in mysticism. In mathematical literature it is used in the sense of 'zero' having no substantial numeral value of its own but playing the key role in the system of decimal notation, to express all numbers with nine digits, one to nine and the sunya as the tenth. The application of sunya in this system of notation was discovered in India some time in the pre-Christian era. Its concretization in the form of a dot or a small circle and its use in decimal place value system was first transmitted to the Middle-East and thence to Europe to supplant the Greek and Roman systems, and the whole world slowly recognized it as the most scientific system of numeration. The present volume is the outcome of a joint seminar organized by Indian National Science Academy and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and aims at a documented account of various facets of sunya in mathematics and astronomy and its various ramifications in philosophy and arts. About the Logo Zero is the embodiment of purna (full), lopa (absence), akasa (universe), bindu (dot), sunya (circle), in Indian literary and cultural traditions. The logo has been formulated keeping all these points in mind by the artist, Shri P.T. Deshpande of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.