From the time of Plato, harmony was considered a fundamental branch of physics, now known as musical acoustics. Early Indian and Chinese theorists show similar approaches: all sought to show that the mathematical laws of harmonics and rhythms were fundamental not only to our understanding of the world but to human well-being.[8] Confucius, like Pythagoras, regarded the small numbers 1,2,3,4 as the source of all perfection.[9]