Mathematics and India.

Sunny Alex
Thursday, December 16, 2021



Aryabhatta is known as the father of Indian mathematics. He was a great mathematician and astronomer He lived in Kusumapura—near Patalipurta (Patna), then the capital of the Gupta dynasty—where he composed at least two works, Aryabhatiya and the now lost Aryabhatasiddhanta is his two most important work. Aryabhatiya consists of spherical trigonometry, Quadratic equations, Algebra, Trigonometry and Sums of power

Five Contributions of India to the World of Mathematics.

1)The Number System
Mathematical knowledge was a part of the Vedas. The representation using powers of ten played a crucial role in the development of the decimal-place value system in India. There is also written evidence of the Brahmi numerals, the Father to the modern, Indian or Hindu-Arabic numeral system that most of the world uses today. Once zero was introduced, almost all of the mathematical mechanics would be in place to enable ancient Indians to study higher mathematics

2) The Concept of Zero
Zero has a much longer history. The recently dated first recorded zeros, in what is known as the Bakhshali manuscript, were simple placeholders – a tool to distinguish 100 from 10. The Bakhshali manuscript is an ancient Indian mathematical text written on birch bark that was found in 1881 in the village of Bakhshali, Mardan (near Peshawar in present-day Pakistan). It is perhaps "the oldest manuscript in Indian mathematics. The manuscript is a collection of rules and examples. Each example is a problem, the solution is described, and it is verified that the problem has been solved. The sample problems are in verse and the commentary is in prose associated with calculations. The problems involve arithmetic, algebra and geometry, including mensuration. The topics covered include fractions, square roots, arithmetic and geometric progressions, solutions of simple equations, simultaneous linear equations, quadratic equations and indeterminate equations of the second degree.

3) Solutions of Quadratic Equations
The first evidence of the rules for working with zero was found in the Brahmasputha Siddhanta. In this text, the astronomer Brahmagupta introduced rules for solving quadratic equations and for computing square roots.

4) Rules for negative numbers
Brahmagupta also proved the rules for working with negative numbers. He referred to positive numbers as fortunes and negative numbers as debts.

5) Basis for calculus
Calculus is used to measure rates of changes and is important in almost every branch of science. Indian Mathematician Bhaskara, also made major contributions to algebra, arithmetic, geometry and trigonometry. The Kerala school of Astronomy and Mathematics founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama was responsible for some early calculus-related results

We should be proud of the contributions given by Ancient Indians to the field of Mathematics. We should do our best to contribute more this Field of Knowledge.India has many seen other prodigies in this field like Srinivasa Ramanujan,Shakuntala devi (who was also known as the Human Computer).

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