The calculus of war

Everybody loves a good war, especially if they are oil-rich. Here’s the algebra of the calculus of war for Iran

- SHANKAR SHARMA

One of the enduring pleasures of being an Indian is to converse with Indians. Just as, I am sure an American feels about other Americans.

The reason I say it is pleasurable is that both countries are extremely insular and inward-focused.

Large domestic markets and populations ensure that people in both these countries can live in indestructible helium balloons of LSD-type brain haze.

So, many Indians that I have spoken to prior to and after the outbreak of this war have had no idea where Iran actually is on the map, how big the land mass is and, more pertinently, where Iran stands on the economic and scientific fronts.

When I used to point out (just prior to the war) that we, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), were actually just 100 miles (160 km) from south Iran, my home parties would either end right then or the demand for alcohol would increase markedly.

Most Indians, as most Americans, are completely unaware of how deep the knowledge of science goes in Iran. But since that is not the topic of this article, most of these two nationalities also don’t know that Iran gave us algebra and that branch of mathematics is very relevant today.

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (approx 820 CE) wrote Al-Kitab al-Mukhtasar fi Hisab al-Jabr wal-Mugabala — the word algebra comes directly from al-jabr in the title.

He systematised solving linear and quadratic equations without using symbols such as x or y.

(Not so trivia: The word algorithm is derived from his Latinised name: Algoritmi.)

So algebra is about solving for unknowns — very germane in today’s context. And calculus, at its deepest level, is about the quantification of change and flow.

What it reveals philosophically is that the infinite is navigable.