Prof.Dr.K.KUMARASAMY
C.F.Gauss referred to Mathematics as “the Queen of
Sciences”. Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space and change.
It has been developed from counting, calculation, measurement, motions of
physical objects etc.
Mathematics is used as an essential tool in many fields including natural
science, engineering, medicine, social science, architecture, land measurement,
astronomy, astrology, statistics, mathematical chemistry, mathematical biology, mathematical economics,
mathematical finance, logic, reasoning, computability theory and so on.
The knowledge of mathematics is highly related to
music, dance, literature, painting and
other arts. In literature, especially in the composition of poetry and writing
of plays,the poets and playwrights exhibited their knowledge of Mathematics
along with their creative imagination.For example, a poet chose the sonnet form
–a poem containg 14 lines – to convey a single idea,message or experience.
Even the sonnet form differed from poet to poet Petrarch, the first Italian sonneteer, wrote
sonnets in two stanzas. The first one “Octave” and the second one “Sestet”
contain eight lines and six lines respectively.
Later, Shakespeare, the immortal Bard of England,
composed sonnets differently. He introduced three quartrains followed by a single
couplet. A quartrain contains four lines and a couplet,
two lines.John Milton
Couplet writing is quite common in other languages,
too. Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural in
Tamil has been written in couplet form. They are precise, crisp and effectively
thrust with meaning.Thiruvalluvar’s Kural called Kural venba contains two lines
with seven seers.(4 seers in the first line and three in the second one.)
Example:
Yaathinin yaathinin neengiyaan nothal
Athanin athanin ila.
Similarly Kabirdas,
Tulasidas and Surdas are successful couplet writers in Hindi.
Some English poems are written in a particular pattern
of rhyme. The last words of the odd
lines and the even lines rhyme as ab, ab, cd, cd, etc.
Example:
I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats
on high over vales and hills
When all at
once I saw a crowd
A host of
golden daffodils
(ByWilliam
Wordsworth)
Some poems have been composed in
different rhyme pattern. The first two lines rhyme as aa and the next two lines, as bb.
Example:
Rise like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number;
Shake your chains to earth
like dew,
Which in sleep had fallen on you.
Iambic
Pentameter is a commonly used
metrical line in traditional verse and drama. The rhythm is measured in small
groups of syllables that are called “feet”. The word ‘iambic’ describes the
type of foot that is used. In
English, an unstressed syllable is
followed by a stressed syllable. The word ‘pentameter’ indicates that a line
has five iambs.
Example:
To be / or not / to be / that is / the ques tion.
(Hamlet by Shakespeare.)
Four hundred quartrains in Tamil are called
Naaladiyaar which are didactic in nature. Each quartrain contains four lines. In Tamil poetry every Venba
consists of between 2 to 12 lines. (Example: Thirukkural, Nalavenba, Nitivenba)
In Tamil poetry. a poem in three lines is called
Sinthadi ( It is called Hikoo in Chinese); Four lines, Alavadi; five lines
Nediladi; and six and above Kazhinediladi.
The dramatists’ sense of
Mathematics helped them to make the drama more interesting to read and view.
Shakespeare,Ben Jonson,Christopher Marlowe and other dramatists wrote dramas
that ran into Acts and Scenes. Invariably,a drama was divided into five Acts
and in one Act there were several Scenes,less or more as situations warranted.
Dramatists laid emphasis on the
size,shape and the dimension of the stage because the stage effect created good impressions in the minds of the spectators.
In the Shakespearean period the theatres were plenty in number.The theatre
builders had ample knowledge of mathematical calculations.As an
illustration,some details of the Swan theatre in London
I Size of the
amphitheatre :Upto 100 feet in diameter.
Ii Varying
shapes :Octagonal,circular
in shape
having between 8 and 24 sides.
iv Stage dimension :Varying from 20 feet wide,15 feet
deep
v The height of the stage :3 to 5 feet,supported by pillars.
Vi
Groundlings
:open space for commeners who
paid just one penny for admission
to stand and watch the drama.
Vii Seats in
the galleries :Seats were tiered with
three
rows of wooden benches, increasing
in size towards the back.
In Arangetrakkaadhai
in Silappathikaaram, the most
famous epic in Tamil, its author Ilango Adigal gives a detailed description of
the size of the stage that exhibits his knowledge of Mathematics. He says that the length of the measuring rod
is equal to the length of 24 thumbs. The
stage is measured by this rod, and the length, breadth and height would be 8x7x1 respectively. Such a stage was
set for the dance of Madhavi, the second heroine.
Some English expressions denote certain numbers. For
example,
Fortnight=15 days, decade=10 years, century = 100
years,
Bicentennial=200 years, millinium = 1000 years,
Sesquicentinnium = 150years.(6 x 1/4x100)
Mathematical knowledge is also compulsory in composing
songs. For instance “Thaalam” regulates
timing in music. It is classified into seven parts called saptha thaalam
(Adi,Ekam, Rupaka, Thripuda, Jamba, Atta and Dhruva). Adi thaalam has eight phases in one round.
Example:
Kurai ondrum illai, Marai
Moorthy Kanna,
Kurai ondrum illai Kanna.
Composed by Sri
Rajagopalachari @Rajaji.S
Similarly
there are 35 types of alankaaram.
Maths knowledge is very much used in
making different musical instruments.
For instance, the best flute is made from high class bamboo, cut into
pieces of 20 fingers length, scorched in fire, cooled in shadow for an year.
Its circumference is four and half fingers. In a gap of two fingers on the
closed left side, a hole is made for blowing air, and in a gap of 7 fingers 7
holes are made to produce 7 swaras - sa,
re, ga, ma, pa, tha, ni (called
Sapthaswaram)
If
the holes are not made in proper gaps the flute would produce Apaswaram. Such
mathematical calculations are highly useful in making other musical instruments
like Nadaswaram, Clarinet, Veena etc.
The above illustrations clearly show that mathematics
is very much in use not only in learning different subjects in science but also
numerous arts like literature, dance, music etc. It is no exaggeration to say
that the use of mathematics is like the omniscient PARAMPORUL.
Jai Hind! Jai Jawaan! Jai Kisaan! Jai Vigyan! and Jai
Ganitham!
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