nobody ever tells you that the sine tables were created based on the madhava paramesvara series discovered by the kerala school of math and astronomy in the 14th-15th centuries CE. with sine tables, a sextant and an accurate clock, you can tell precisely where you are on the surface of the earth. this is what enabled white people to navigate the open oceans. earlier, they had just hugged the coast.
in sum, the indian invention, which prof ck raju surmises was taken to the vatican by jesuits who were looking to improve their calendars, ended up in colonialism! no copyright, no patents, no royalties.
a US navy lieutenant told me that the tables are religiously maintained in every US navy ship, including submarines, just in case the satellites have some glitch.
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