Hello Reader

Did you know that a binary bug has existed in western arithmetic for the past 451 years?

My research revealed exactly how this happened.

The bug is known as self reference.

What's the problem?

The four basic operations are binary, meaning you need two different numbers, one on each side of a symbol, like 3 × 4 or 1 + 2.

OK, in February 1570 an English Haberdasher called Henry Billingsley inserted the self referential word 'itself' into his English translation of Euclid's multiplication definition. If you want more detail of the ancient Greek text then have a look at this page.

​https://www.jonathancrabtree.com/euclid/elements_book_VII_definitions.html​

So because of this the English broke the logic of multiplication!

Henry invented the definition of multiplication (in modern jargon) ab =a added to itself b times.

Yet that means 1 × 1 would have to equal 1 + 1, which is two, while 1 × 1 is one!

This template then got applied to exponentiation, so aᵇ then got defined as aᵇ = a multiplied (into) itself b times.

This means 2² would have to be 2 × 2× 2 which is eight, yet 2² is four!

These sloppy translations were never corrected so they still appear in dictionaries today. People can't decide whether a cubed number is multiplied by itself three times or two times.

This is so crazy it's hard to believe! So have a look at this link to see how the West can't even agree about basic arithmetic.

​https://podometic.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cube-confusion.pdf​

These broken British ideas got exported around the world!

Now here's the connection to the subject line of your email.

You can't add a number to itself, because you need two numbers to multiply. Let that seep in.

Similarly, you can't multiply a number by itself either.

You can only add or multiply a number by a number that is NOT ITSELF!

The logic is subtle, yet that's the issue I picked up at age 7 in 1968 in Class two.

This had been known for almost 1800 years!

Let me quote the Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus (c. 200 CE),

"To what, I ask, is at added? It cannot be added to itself, since what is added is different from that to which it is added and nothing is different from itself."

It's from this man's name that the word empirical arose.

India's maths is empirical. Instead of being abstract maths via western philosophy, it matches what you see.

So, you can't add a dozen eggs to itself, yet you can add a dozen eggs to a different set of 12 eggs.

There is so much to laugh about with western maths.

Yet instead, just get serious for a moment and log in to your free Bharatiya Maths course valued at $1000.

The address if you haven't confirmed your registration is www.podometic.com​

That's all for now.

Let me know what you though about this note by hitting reply to jc@podo.in

I read every email and will try my best to reply to you.

Stay safe,

Jonathan J. Crabtree
Founder: Podometic Bharatiya Maths
​www.podometic.com​
www.podometic.in

P.S. Why not invite a friend to register as well? (It's free, so they will thank you.)