Contribution of Indian Mathematicians

J.P.BOHRE,PGT(Maths)
KendriyaVidyalayaNo.1
DharamTekri,Chhindwara(MP)480001
Email:jpbohre@rediffmail.com

ARYABHATA(476550AD)
(1)Aryabhattawasbornin476A.D.Kusumpur,India.Hewasthefirstinthelineofgreat
mathematiciansfromtheclassicalageofIndianMathematicsandAstronomy.
(2)Hisfamous workaretheAryabhatiyaandtheAryasiddhanta.TheMathematical
partoftheAryabhatiyacoversarithmetic.algebra,planeandsphericaltrigonometry.The
Aryasiddhanta,alotworkonastronomicalcomputation.
(3)ApproximationofPi:Aryabhataworkontheapproximationforpi()andmayhave
cometotheconclusionthatisanirrationalnumber.Inthe2ndpartofAryabhatiya,he
writestheratioofcircumferencetodiameteris3.1416.
(4)Aryabhatagiventheformulaforareaofatriangle.Healsodiscussedtheconceptof
sine in his work by the name of ardhajya. If we use Aryabhatas table & calculate the
value of sin300 which is 1719/3438=0.5.,the value is correct. His alphabetic code is
commonlyknownastheAryabhatacipher.
(5)HewasfirstpersontosaythatEarthissphericalanditrevolvesaroundthesun.
(6)Hegavetheformula(a+b)2=a2+b2+2ab.
(7)Hetaughtthemethodofsolvingthefollowingproblems:
1+2+3++n=n(n+1)/2
12+22+32++n2=n(n+1)(2n+1)/6
13+23+33+..+n3=(n(n+1)/2)2

BRAHMAGUPT(598668AD)
(1)Brahmaguptawasbornin598A.D.inBhinmalcityinthestateofRajasthan.Hewasa
mathematicianandastronomer,whowrotemanyimportantworksonmathematicsand
astronomy.HisbestknownworkistheBrahmasphutasiddhanta,writtenin628ADin
Bhinmal.
(2)Hewasthefirsttousezeroasanumber.Hegaverulestocomputewithzero.
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(3)Hegavefourmethodsofmultiplication.
(4)Hegavefollowingformulae,usedinG.P.series
a+ar+ar2+ar3+.+arn1=a(rn1)/(r1)
(5)Hegavethefollowingformulae(Brahmaguptasformula):
Areaofacyclicquadrilateralwithsidea,b,c,d=9(sa)(sb)(sc)(sd),where2s=a+b+c+d.
Lengthofitsdiagonals=

(ac+bd),

(ac+bd).

BHASKARACHARYA(11141185AD)
(1) He was born in Bijapur in modern Karnataka. He & his work represent a significant
contributiontomathematical&astronomicalknowledgeinthe12thcentury.
(2) His main work Siddhanta Shiromani is divided into four parts called Lilawati,
Bijaganit,GrahaganitaandGoladhyaya.Thesefoursectionsdealwitharithmetic,algebra,
mathematicsofplanetsandspheresrespectively.
(3)Hewasthefirsttogivethatanynumberdividedbyzerogivesinfinity.
(4)Hewaswrittenalotaboutzero,surds,permutationandcombination.
(5)Hewrote,Thehundredthpartofthecircumferenceofacircleseemstobestraight.
Ourearthisabigsphereandthatswhyitappearstobeflat.
(6)Hegavetheformulaelike:sin(AB)=sinAcosBcosAsinB.
(7)HecalculatedderivativesofTrigonometricfunctionsandformulae.
(8) He developed spherical trigonometry alongwith a number of other trigonometric
results.
(9)Heexplainedsolutionofquadratic,cubicandquarticindeterminateequations.
(10) He developed a proof of Pythagoras Theorem by calculating the same area in two
differentways&thesecancelouttermstogeta2+b2=c2.
(11)Hegavefirstgeneralmethodforfindingthesolutionoftheproblemx2ny2=1(so
calledPellsequation).
(12)HegavesolutionofDiophantineequationsofsecondordersuchas61x2+1=y2..

RAMANUJAN(18871920)
(1) Ramanujan was born on 22nd of December 1887 in Erode, Madras Presidency. He
made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite
series,andcontinuedfractions.
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(2)Hedemonstratedunusualmathematicalskillatschool,winningaccoladesandawards.
(3) By 17,he had conducted his own mathematical research on Bernoulli numbers and
theEulerMascheroniconstant.
(4)HediscoveredtheoremsofhisownandrediscoveredEuler'sidentityindependently.
(5)Hesentasetof120theoremstoProfessorHardyofCambridge.Asaresultheinvited
RamanujantoEngland.
(6) He independently compiled nearly 3900 results (mostly identities and
equations).Nearlyallhisclaimshavenowbeenprovedcorrect.
(7)RamanujanShowedthatanybignumbercanbewrittenassumofnotmorethanfour
primenumbers.
(8)Heshowedthathowtodividethenumberintotwoormoresquaresorcubes.
(9) Ramanujan's Number:When Mr.G.H. Hardy came to see Ramanujan in taxi number
1729,Ramanujansaidthat1729isthesmallestnumberwhichcanbewrittenintheform
of sum of cubes of two numbers in two ways,i.e.1729=93+103=13+123 since than the
number1729iscalledRamanujansnumber.
(10) In 1918, Ramanujan and Hardy studied the partition function P(n) extensively and
gaveanonconvergentasymptoticseriesthatpermitsexactcomputationofthenumber
ofpartitionofaninteger.
(11)Hediscoveredmockthetafunctioninthelastyearofhislife.Formanyyearsthese
functions were a mystry,but they are now known to be the holomorphic parts of
harmonicweakmassforms.

SHAKUNTALADEVI
(1)Shewasbornin1939.SheisanIndiancalculatingprodigy.
(2)Byage6,Shedemonstratedhercalculationandmemorizationabilitiesatuniversityof
Mysore.Attheageof8,shehadsuccessesatAnnamalaiUniversitybydoingthesame.
(3) On June 18, 1980,She demonstrated the multiplication of two 13digit numbers
7,686,369,774,870X2,465,099.745,779pickedatrandombytheComputerDepartmentof
ImperialCollege,London.Sheansweredthequestionin28seconds.However,thetimeis
more likely the time for dictating the answer (a 26digit number) than the time for
mentalcalculation(thetimeof28secondswasquotedonherwebsite).Heranswerwas
18,947,668,177,995,426,773,730.This event is mentioned on page 26 of the 1995
GuinnessBookofRecords.

(4) In Dallas, she competed with a computer to see who give the cube of 188138517
faster,shewon.AtUniversityofUSAshewasaskedtogivethe23rdrootof
91674867692003915809866092758538016248310668014430862240712651642793465
70408670965932792057674808067900227830163549248523803357453169351119035
9657754734007568818688305620821016129132845564895780158806771.
Sheansweredin50seconds.Theansweris546372891.IttookaUNIVAC1108computer,
full one minute (10 seconds more) to confirm that she was right after it was fed with
13000instructions.
(5)NowsheisknowntobeHumanComputer.

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