Ancient India: Ashoka, zero and our numbers

Tests: 7 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★★ · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 8 of the history course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★★ · right ✓

Mate says they're Arabic numerals so the Arabs invented 'em. Fair?

1. No, the Romans invented them — no support
2. Yes, and India copied them from the Arabs much later on — no support
3. Yes, they began in Arabia — no support
4. No, they began in India and Arabs passed them on — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 10: «The digits 0 to 9 that we use were invented in India and passed on by Arab scholars to Europe; they are often called Arabic numerals, but they began in India.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «begin» (+2); the same place «india» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

Try writing one hundred and five with no zero sign. What problem do you hit?

1. It becomes a million — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Nothing, zero is never needed — no support
3. You cannot tell it apart from fifteen — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It turns into a letter — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★★ · right ✓

Why is Ashoka's change of heart so famous?

1. He won every war with no one hurt — no support
2. He invented the number zero — no support
3. He was the only king in all of history who never fought any war — no support
4. A great conqueror chose kindness after seeing suffering — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 1: «Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, conquered the land of Kalinga in a terrible war in which very many people died. Seeing the suffering, he changed h…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+1); the same thing acted on «suffering» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

In modern chess the bishop sits next to the knight. Which chaturanga piece once stood there?

1. The wizard — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The elephant — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The dragon — no support
4. The camel driver — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★★ · right ✓

If India had never invented zero as a number, what would be harder today?

1. Writing big numbers and doing sums — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Playing football — no support
3. Building pillars — no support
4. Growing pepper — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

Why did Roman ladies pay a lot for Indian pepper?

1. Pepper was banned in India — no support
2. Pepper grew everywhere in Italy, so it was a fashion — ← Mova's choice · score 5
3. It was used as money for soldiers — no support
4. It came from very far and was rare in Rome — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 8, line 14: «India traded pepper, cinnamon, cotton cloth and precious stones with Rome, Arabia and China; pepper did not grow in Italy, so in Rome it was rare and costly.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «grow» (+3); the same doer «pepper» (+3); the same place «italy» (+2). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★★ · right ✓

A cartoon says ancient Indians thought the Earth stood still. What did Aryabhata say?

1. That the Sun spins round it daily — no support
2. That the Earth spins — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
3. That the Earth is hollow — no support
4. That the Earth is flat and still — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 11: «The mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata, about 1,500 years ago, explained that the Earth spins and worked out the value of pi very accurately.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «spin» (+2); the same doer «earth» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★★ · wrong ✗

Ashoka asked people to respect all religions. Why would that matter in India?

1. Only one temple existed — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. India was home to many faiths and peoples — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Religions were banned in India — no support
4. Everyone in India had exactly the same faith already — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★★ · right ✓

How did the Buddha's teaching get to Sri Lanka?

1. Ashoka sent teachers there — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
2. Vikings sailed it there — no support
3. It was found on the Moon — no support
4. Romans carried it there — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 2: «He had messages carved on rocks and tall pillars across India, asking people to be kind, respect all religions and treat animals well, and he sent teachers to…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «send» (+2); the same doer «ashoka» (+2); the same thing acted on «teachers» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★★ · right ✓

blah blah so the gupta age was like the dark ages for india right?

1. No, it was a golden age of science, art and poetry — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. No, it was the Ice Age — no support
3. Yes, nothing happened at all for hundreds of years — no support
4. Yes, all books were burned — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★★ · right ✓

Chess went from India to Persia to Europe. What happened to it on the way?

1. It stayed exactly the same, piece for piece — no support
2. It was forgotten until 1990 — no support
3. It changed into the game we play today — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. It turned into football — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 8, line 13: «Chess travelled to Persia, the Arab world and Europe and changed into the game we play today; the chaturanga elephant, standing next to the horse, became today…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «change» (+2); the same doer «chess» (+2); the same place «game» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the ruler who, subsequent to the conquest of Kalinga, caused edicts enjoining kindness and religious tolerance to be inscribed upon pillars.

1. Cyrus the Great — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Aryabhata — no support
3. Chandragupta Maurya — no support
4. Ashoka — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the origin of the digits 0 to 9 employed at present.

1. They originated in India and were transmitted to Europe by Arab scholars — ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. They originated in Arabia without antecedents — no support
3. They were devised in Europe in the twentieth century — ← Mova's choice · score 4
4. They were devised by the Romans — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 8, line 10: «The digits 0 to 9 that we use were invented in India and passed on by Arab scholars to Europe; they are often called Arabic numerals, but they began in India.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «invent» (+2); the same thing acted on «digits» (+2). The right option, 1, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the contribution of Aryabhata?

1. He founded the Maurya Empire — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. He maintained that the Earth rotates and computed pi with precision — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. He invented the game of chess — no support
4. He conquered the land of Kalinga — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the name of the early Indian game from which modern chess is descended.

1. Go — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Senet — no support
3. Mancala — no support
4. Chaturanga — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/history/8-ancient-india-ashoka-zero-and-our-numbers/