Patterns, Recursions and Iterations
As a continuation to the popular workshop held on this subject, this course offers a deeper exploration into the birth of binary mathematics and how various recursive and iterative algorithms were discussed in the Indian subcontinent through the subject of poetry and extended into music and percussion instruments. We take Piṅgala’s Chandaḥśāstra, Śārṅgadeva’s Saṅgītaratnākara and similar texts to understand how Indians developed the branch of Combinatorics and Computational Thinking centuries and millennia ahead of the Western world. Highlights: • Binary and recursion in Piṅgala’s Chandaḥśāstra: list, count and locate any metre • Meru Prastāra (Pascal’s triangle), Mātrā Meru and Khaṇḍa Meru • Piṅgala’s algorithms applied to tāla and tāna in percussion and Indian classical music • The history and development of zero, from idea to number • Poetry as a pathway into mathematical patterns and algorithmic thinking