This book deals with the important mathematical concepts which we use today in most aspects of our civilization. These include science. mathematics, economics, commerce, engineering, technology, social sciences and in daily life, whose origins can be traced back long before Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Newton and others brought on our modern civilization. Only a few appreciate mathematics but nearly everyone admires them because of enormous benefits bestowed by mathematics to our civilization.

The important mathematical concepts, such as the zero, our numerals, negative numbers, whole numbers and fractions, computation and others are usually discussed cursorily, and sometimes not at all, in the annals on the history of mathematics. In this respect this is the first book of its kind, both in content and presentation. It discusses in depth the 'living ancient mathematical concepts, more or less unchanged for over a thousand years, which are used today in almost all branches of mathematics as well as in almost all the areas of our economic and techno logical endeavors. It further clarifies many prevalent misunderstandings. In this respect this book supplements other books on the history of mathematics.

During the journey through the vast terrain of ancient mathematics the inventor of our computable zero, his name and the exact date as well as the method of his invention is discovered. Also the inventor of our numerals, with an approximate date of his invention is established with the help of epigraphic and other evidence. It is shown that a number without computational ability is virtually useless in mathematics as well as in practical life, and the importance of computation in the development of civilization are discussed.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the 10 figures, in this book, 8 of them original, will reveal many of the themes developed in the text. Spending some time with them will undoubtedly be rewarding. All the figures are original in concept and presentation except 4 and 10. It may be useful to look at them before reading the text and later correlate them with the written part. Figure 1 (Front cover) shows some of the use of zero and the negative numbers in different branches of mathematics and in different aspects of our civilization. Figure 2 reveals the origin and the development of our zero and the numerals.