Vedic mathematics and the calculations of Guru Tirthaji

Abstract

This article was written as a reaction to several publications in the Netherlands on methods of mental calculation, which have been presented as “Vedic mathematics.” The adjective “Vedic” suggests that these methods date back to the ancient Vedic period before 500 BCE.1 In this article I will first give two examples of genuine Vedic mathematics. After a brief intermezzo on the decimal position system and decimal fractions, the so-called “Vedic” methods of mental calculation will be identified as the inventions of a twentieth-century Guru. More information on the subject can be found in [3].