Indian mathematics and the numeral system is the forerunner of modern science , technology and mathematics.
We have to be grateful to the Indians for teaching us how to count without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
-----Albert Einstein
It is a fact that before the advent of the Indian numeral system and algebra in Europe , the Roman numeral system was used ,which could not have been used for cumbersome scientific calculations. You are even today counting 1 , 2 , 3 , etc to zero, after Sanskrit figures.
It was Indian mathematics, which provided the base for the growth of European science and technology to its present standards.
If it weren't for Indian mathematics, Europe would still would have been using the Roman numeral system, and in all probability , would still have been in the Dark Ages as well.
A scientific temperament existed in India, as can be understood by this quote of the Buddha 2500 years ago ...
Believe nothing, merely because you have been told it, or because it is traditional or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for your teacher. But whatever after due consideration and analysis you find to be conducive to the good , the benefit, the welfare of all beings, that doctrine , believe and cling to and take it as your guide.
- Buddha