In the history of mathematical science, it has long been a question to whom the invention of Algebraic analysis is due?

Among what people, in what region, was it devised? By whom was it cultivated and promoted? Or by whose labours was it reduced to form and system? And finally from what quarter did the diffusion of its knowledge proceed? No doubt indeed entertained of the source from which it was received immediately by modern Europe; though the channel has been a matter of question. We are well assured, that the Arabs were our instructors in this study. But the Arabs themselves only play to the discovery of Algebra. They were not in general inventors but scholars, during the period of their success of the sciences: and the germ at least of the Algebraic analysis is to be found among the Greeks in an age not precisely determined, but more than probably anterior to the earliest dawn of civilization among the Arabs: and this science in a more advanced state subsisted among the Hindus prior to the earliest disclosure of it by the Arabians to modern Europe. Life and the works of Aryabhatta (Aryabhata) Pataliputra was the birth-place of another very great man, namely, Aryabhata, the father of scientific astronomy and mathematics of the Hindus. He was born in 476 A D. and wrote his Kalakriyapada here at the age of 23 that is, 499 A.D. Aryabhatta's Birthplace There seem to have been a conflict of Eras at the time when Aryabhata flourished. There was the Malava Era in Western Malwa, the Gupta Km known in the Gupta Empire, the Saka Era, the Kalacuri Era and so on all local and tribal eras. Time of Aryabhatta Aryabhatta is the first writer on astronomy to whom the Hindus do not allow the honour of a divine inspiration. Writers on mathematical science distinctly state that he was the earliest uninspired and a merely human writer on astronomy. This is a notice which sufficiently proves his being an historical character. Read More on Aryabhatta The chief doctrines which Aryabhatta professed were that he He affirmed the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis; an assertion which is fully borne out by a quotation from one of his works, in a commentary on the "Brahmasphut'a-Siddhanta" of Brahmagupta by Prithudakaswami: "The Earth making a revolution produces a daily rising and setting of the stars and planets". Aryabhatta is said to have discovered the diurnal motion of the earth' which he thought to be spherical. Aryabhatta's diurnal motion Aryabhatta had another celebrated astronomer known as Varahamihira as his contemporary. Varahamihira Aryabhatta also ascribed to the epicycles, by which the motion of a planet is represented, a form varying from the circle and nearly elliptic. The chief doctrines of Aryabhatta

Aryabhata wrote his Kala-kriya (calculation of time) here at the age of 23 that is, 499 A.D. Aryabhatta and Astronomy ARYABHATTA was author of the Arykshiasata (800 couplets) and Dasagi-tica (ten stanzas), known by the numerous quotations of BRAHMEGUPTA, BHAT'TATPALA, and others, who cite both under these respective titles. Works of Aryabhatta ARYABHATTAS text specifies the earth's diameter, 1050 yojanas; and the orbit or circumference of the earth's wind [spiritus vector] 3393 yojanas; which, as the scholiast rightly argues, is no discrepancy. Aryabhattas calculation of the earths diameter UNDER the Abbasside Khalifs ALMANSU'R and ALMAMUN, in the middle of the eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries of the Christian era, the Arabs became conversant with the Indian astronomy. In the history of mathematical science, it has long been a question to whom the invention of Algebraic analysis is due? Among what people, in what region, was it devised? By whom was it cultivated and promoted? Or by whose labours was it reduced to form and system? And finally from what quarter did the diffusion of its knowledge proceed? No doubt indeed entertained of the source from which it was received immediately by modern Europe; though the channel has been a matter of question. We are well assured, that the Arabs were our instructors in this study. But the Arabs themselves only play to the discovery of Algebra. They were not in general inventors but scholars, during the period of their success of the sciences: and the germ at least of the Algebraic analysis is to be found among the Greeks in an age not precisely determined, but more than probably anterior to the earliest dawn of civilization among the Arabs: and this science in a more advanced state subsisted among the Hindus prior to the earliest disclosure of it by the Arabians to modern Europe.

Aryabhatta
76 rate or flag this page By Rudra

Statue of Aryabhata Indian scientists have shaped the course of mathematics and astronomy for the world to marvel upon. Many scientists in the USA today are Indians and more than 40% of scientists of NASA and the Silicon Valley are Indians. Indians have helped the world build intercontinental missiles, satellites, the space shuttle, stealth technology, space exploration and Deep Impact navigation. One of the very early pioneers in astronomy and mathematics was Aryabhatta. Aryabhatta I, born 476 A.D in Patliputra in Magadha is now modern Patna in Bihar. There are several tales of claim for his origins. Many believe that he was born in the south of India around the Kerala region and lived in Magadha at the time of the Gupta rulers; time which is known as the golden age of India. There is no evidence that he was born outside Patliputra and traveled to Magadha, the centre of instruction, culture and knowledge for his studies where he even set up a coaching institute. His first name "Arya" is not a south Indian name while "Bhatt" (or sometimes Bhatta) is a typical north Indian name. The name is popular even today in India especially among the trader community of north India.

Whatever this origins, it cannot be disputed that he lived in Patliputra where he wrote his famous thesis called the "Aryabhatta-siddhanta" more commonly known as the "Aryabhatiya". This is the only works to have survived to the present day. It contains mathematical and astronomical hypothesis that have been discovered to be quite accurate in contemporary mathematics. For example, he wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8 then added to 62,000 then divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). But his greatest donation has to be zero, known as the "Shunya" in his times. His other works include theorems on trigonometry, arithmetic, algebra, quadratic equations and the sine table. He also wrote essays on astronomy. For example he was aware that the earth spins on its axis, and that it moves round the sun and the moon rotates round the earth. He discusses about the locations of the planets in relation to its movement around the sun. He refers to the light of the planets and the moon as reflections from the sun. He goes as far as to explain the eclipse of the moon and the sun, day and night, the contours of the earth, the length of the year exactly as 365 days. He also calculated the circumference of the earth as 24835 miles which is close to present day calculation of 24,900 miles. This extraordinary man was an intellectual of immense proportions and continues to baffle many mathematicians of today. His working was then later adopted by the Greeks and then the Arabs. If one is to study the history of mathematics, Aryabhatta of Bihar outshines everyone.