Georgiana had read a book like this, about the fantastical voyage at sea of a boy nicknamed "Pi" and a Bengal tiger.
"Pi" was an ancient Greek letter representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It was an infinite, non-repeating decimal, and mathematicians in both the East and ancient Greece had already proven it by the 3rd century BC. Yet some believed that ancient Indians had proven it as early as 800 BC, and that it had been recorded in India's great religious work, the Shatapatha Brahmana.
One British writer believed that people in Egypt had discovered it while building the Pyramid of Khufu: the ratio of the pyramid's perimeter to its height was exactly twice Pi.
The widely used Arabic numerals of today had not actually been invented by Arabs. They had first been invented by Indians. Arab scholars had been eager to learn this advanced knowledge, and merchants had gladly adopted the system for business. Later, the Arabs brought these numerals to Spain, from where the Pope spread them to the rest of Europe. By the 13th century, even ordinary Europeans had begun using "Arabic numerals."
Parvati and Padma both loved Divination, but in their dormitory, only Hermione Granger was interested in Arithmancy. The Patil sisters and Lavender preferred the classes taught by Trelawney and the Centaur Firenze.
Many European men married local women in India and integrated into local society, making it easier to conduct business there. The women they married were generally from the upper classes. At first, they obeyed their husbands like traditional women, but gradually they began to "understand" and started meddling in their husbands' accounting affairs.
Only a very small number of these East India Company employees hoped to become rich on their fixed salaries. The overwhelming majority also engaged