Timeline History |
AryabhataAryabhata(476 – 550) is the first of the great mathematician-astronomers of the classical age of India. He belonged to the Kusumapura school, but was probably a native of Kerala since his tradition is still in vogue there. At age 23 he wrote his small but famous work on astronomy, the Aryabhatiya. In it he organized and combined existing knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. He says, "I delved deep in the astronomical theories, true and false, and rescued the precious sunken jewel of the knowledge by means of the best of my intellect and by the grace of God". Aryabhata considered his work as a whole, but Brahmagupta divides the work into two parts in his Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta. It consists of 121 slokas-three slokas (verses) forming the introduction and the conclusion, ten slokas written in the Geetika metre, followed by 108 slokas in the Aryavrata metre. Brahmagupta called the Geetika metre and the Aryavrata metre, Dasgeetika and Aryashtasatam respectively. He then divided the Aryashtasatam into three parts:1. Ganita (mathematics), 2. Kala-kriya (calculation of time), 3. Gola (sphere). The Ganita deals with pure mathematics and therefore addresses topics such as: the methods of determining square and cube roots, geometrical problems, the progression, problems involving quadratic equations and indeterminate equations of the first degree. The methold of solving these equations has been called Kuttaka by later mathematicians. In the chapter the Gola, Aryabhata defines all the circles given in the armillary sphere together with the small circles representing the diurnal motion of the sun. He was the first astronomer to mention that the diurnal motion of the heavens is due to the rotation of the earth about its axis. Other contributions Aryabhata made towards pure mathematics was his approximation of pi and his sine tables. |
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