Assignment 3 Reflection

 I am really glad Margot and I chose the history of Brahmagupta for our assignment 3 topic because it allowed us to explore a mathematician who is not commonly talked about! As I've mentioned numerous times throughout my blog posts, I really appreciate the fact that we get to explore mathematicians from different cultures and backgrounds, and trace the history of these ideas and how they came to where they are today. 

One of the most interesting things I found about Brahmagupta was that he had significant contributions in both astronomy and mathematics. This is something I discussed in my post about Islamic mathematicians as well, as many of them had made great achievements in astronomy as well and other fields such as geography and poetry. I had never realized how dynamic these individuals were, and I think it is really cool and important to give recognition to all of these accomplishments. 

Ancient India in general has significantly shaped our understanding of mathematics today, such as the hindu-arabic number system, the concept of zero and solutions for quadratic equations. These are such important foundations to mathematics therefore it was really fascinating to research Brahmagupta's participation in these findings. 

Overall, I really enjoyed assignment 3 as it gave us the opportunity to explore an interesting topic in a really creative way. I also really enjoyed seeing the other group's presentations, and I was really impressed by their art mediums! My peers in this class emulate my takeaways from the Indian/Islamic mathematicians - versatile individuals who are talented in drawing, poetry, and dancing, on top of mathematics! This project was a really fun way for everyone to engage in the culture and humanity behind mathematics, and served as great inspiration for future teachers to incorporate a similar activity in their own classroom.