ANCIENT AND

MEDIEVAL INDIA
CHAPTER 8

RENYLENE JHESS
ALDREAN
NHEL MATHEW
JAKE
DANIEL SHARRAH
KENNETH MAE
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to Mathematics in India
Calculations
Geometry
Equation Solving
Indeterminate Analysis
Combinatorics
Trigonometry
Transmission To and From India
 I.
Introduction to
Mathematics
in INDIA
Introduction to Mathematics in India
Harappan Civilization
-Arose in India on the banks
of the Indus River on 3rd
millennium BCE
-no direct evidence of its
mathematics
Aryan Tribes
-The earliest Indian civilization
for which there are such evidence
along the Ganges River
-Migrated from the Asian Steppes
Monarchical States (8th
century)
-Headed by the King and priests
(brahmins).
-fortification,
administrative centralization, and large-
scale irrigation.
Vedic Era
Sulbasutras-it is a work that deals
with the theoretical requirements for
building altars out of bricks.
-sources for our knowledge of
ancient Indian mathematics.
Introduction to Mathematics in India
Alexander The Great Ashoka
-came to civilize India in 327
BCE but Indians believe that -carved all pillars throughout his
they are already civilized kingdom the earliest written evidence of
-Indians see them as Indian numerals.
Barbarians.

Chandragupta Maurya Kushan Invaders

-He conquered the Indian -Kushan empire soon became the
provinces after the death of center of a flourishing trade between
Alexander and later become the the roman world and the East.
king of Magadha
Magadha-the major north Indian
kingdom of the time.
 Aryabhata Aryabhatiya
The earliest identifiable Indian Contains a wide range of mathematical
mathematician topics of mathematics
 Brahmagupta
Bhaskara I
first to write numbers in the Hindu Indian Mathematician and Astronomer
decimal system with a circle for zero

Brahmasphutasiddhanta Khandakhandyaka
- a more practical text.
-a theoretical treatise -first to give rules to compute with zero.

composed the earliest Sanskrit
textbook entirely devoted to
mathematics, rather than having
mathematics as an adjunct to
astronomy.
. years
timeline
-established the Moslem
Sultanate of Delhi in 1206
-their empire last over 300
-sequence of transmissions
from teacher to pupil resulting
from writing of proofs of
development of infinite series,
trigonometric functions

Small States Mahavira 9th Moslem Army Under

Century
14th-16th Century
Mohammed Ghori

Bhaskara II Vijayanagara
-An empire in the south where
-created the Lilavati and
Bijaganita on arithmetic and the mathematical school of
Madhava established
algebra respectively.
 Everyone must ponder
these!
● Through the various invasion and new kingdoms, mathematics was used to solve
practical problems like calendrical questions.
● But those creative mathematicians went beyond of these and develop new areas of
mathematics. We consider in this chapter the Indian number systems and methods of
calculations, then the geometry of the Sulbasutras and later, the next algebraic methods
developed in the medieval period to solve equations (including the so-called Pell
equation), next the beginning of combinatorics, and then the development of
trigonometry and associated techniques.
● We conclude with a study of the development of power series in south India during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
 II.
CALCULATIONS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR
MODERN NUMERALS
● Symbol for the first nine numbers of our number system
have their origin in the Brahmi system of writing of
India, which dates back to at least the time of King
Ashoka (Mid-Third Century BCE).  
● These numbers appear in various decrees of the king
inscribed on pillars throughout India.  
 These numerals were used all the way up to the fourth century CE, with variations
through time and geographic location.
From the fourth century on, the new number system was form and it is the Gupta
numerals.
The Gupta numerals were prominent during a time ruled by the Gupta dynasty and were
spread throughout that empire as they conquered lands during the 4th – 6th century.
  Āryabhata lists names for the various powers of 10 in his
Āryabhatīya:“dasa[ten],sata[hundred], sahasra[thousand],ayuta[ten
thousand],and niyuta[hundred thousand.]
 Eka [1],Dasa [10], Sahasra [10²],…[up to 10¹⁸] (Samhitās 1500 B.C.)
 Around the year 600, the Indians evidently dropped the symbols for
numbers higher than 9 and began to use their symbols for 1 through 9 in our
place value arrangement.
 These shifts were not found in India, it is in the work of Severus Sebokht
remark that the Hindus have a valuable method of calculation “done by
means of nine signs.”
 Severus only wrote nine signs and there is no mention of a sign of zero. However, in the Bakhshālī
manuscript, a mathematical manuscript that was discovered in 1881 in the village of Bakhshālī in
northern India, the number are written using the place value system and with a dot to represent zero.
  The Bakhshālī manuscript dates from the 7th century. In this same period, other
works of Indians were generally written in a quasi-place value system to
accommodate the poetic nature of the documents.
 The example for these is the work of Mahāvīra, certain words in his work stands for:
moon(1), eye(2), fire(3), and sky(0). Then the word fire-sky-moon-eye would stand
for 2103 and moon-eye-sky-fire for 3021. Note, the place value begins on the left.
 The Gupta numerals eventually evolved into another form of numerals called the
Nagari numerals, and these continued to evolved until 11th century, at which they
looked like this:  
 III.
GEOMETRY
Pythagorean Theorem:
● The areas of the squares produced separately by the
length and the width of a rectangle together is equal to
the area of the square produced by the diagonal. This is
observed in rectangles having sides 3 and 4, 12 and 5, 15
and 8, 7 and 24, 12 and 35, 15 and 36.

c2 = a2 + b2
 For example:

24 Given:
a=7 ; b=24 ; c=?
To check:
7 Solution: c2 = a2 + b2
? c2 = a2 + b2 252 = 72 + 242
c2 = 72 + 242 625= 49 + 576
c2 = 49 + 576 625 = 625
c2 = 625
√ c2 = √ 625
c = 25
Aryabhata too presented some geometric results:

STANZA II, 16 The upright side is the distance between the tips of the two shadows
multiplied by a shadow divided by the decrease. That upright side multiplied by the
gnomon, divided by its shadow, becomes the base.

This stanza gives a method for finding the

height of a pole with a light at the top by
measuring various shadows. We have two
gnomons of length g. The lengths s1 and
s2, of the shadows of the two gnomons
cast by the light at height h are known, as
well as the distance d between the shadow
ends. The lengths h of the base and u of
the upright side are to be found. Finding heights by use of shadow.
 
Bhaskara I, an early commentator on the Aryabhatiya, presented an example:

The shadows of two equal gnomons (of height 12 arigulas) are observed to be
respectively 10 and 16 angulas and the distance between the tips of the
shadows is seen as 30…

d = 30 (10) = 300 ug = 50 (12) = 600

= 16 – 10 = 6
u= h=

The procedures of the stanza can be translated into the formulas:

𝑑 𝑠1 𝑢𝑔
𝑢= 𝑎𝑛𝑑 h=
𝑠2 − 𝑠1 𝑠1

Note that this problem is very similar both in form and solution method to problem I in the
Chinese Sea Island Mathematical Manual.
STANZA II, 17 ... In a circle,
the product of both arrows is
the square of the half-chord,
certainly for two bow fields.
Many other geometric formulas, some exact,
some stated as exact but only approximate, and
some stated explicitly as approximate, occur in
various Indian mathematical texts. But we will
conclude this section with two remarkable
results of Brahmagupta dealing with cyclic
quadrilaterals (quadrilaterals inscribed in
circles), given in chapter 12 of the
Brähmasphutasiddhānta.
The first is the following:
The accurate area of a cyclic quadrilateral is the square
root of the product of the halves of the sums of the sides
diminished by each side of the quadrilateral.

This result says that if S= ½ + (a + b + c + d ), where a,

b, c, d, are the sides of the quadrilateral in cyclic order,
then the area S is given by :

Heron's formula is a special case of this result, but how Brahmagupta

discovered his formula, or whether he was aware of Heron's result, is
unknown.
 A complete proof first appeared in the
Yuktibhāsā, based on a second result of
Brahmagupta:
One should multiply the sum of the
products of the arms adjacent to the
diagonals, after it has been mutually divided
on either side, by the sum of the two
products of the arms and the counter- arms.
In an unequal cyclic quadrilateral, the two
Area of a cyclic quadrilateral,
square roots are the two diagonals.
from the
Brahmasphutasiddhanta.
This statement translates into formulas for the lengths of the diagonals AC
and BD of the quadrilateral. Since the "sum of the products of the arms
adjacent to diagonal AC, or ad + bc, is mutually divided," that is, divided
by the corresponding sum with respect to the second diagonal, or ab + cd,
and then multiplied by the sum of the two products of the arms and
counter-arms," or ac + bd, the result is that

A proof of this result too was in the Yuktibhäsā.

 IV.
EQUATION
SOLVING
Equation solving
 The rule for solving quadratic equations seems to
have been known in India from at least the end of
the fifth century.

Aryabhata
 in dealing with arithmetic progressions in two
stanzas of his Aryabhari ya, provided what
amounts to the quadratic formula in a special
case:
 Stanza II – 19

Stanza II
– 20

•Aryabhata did not explicitly present here a general procedure for solving quadratic
equations
Brahmagupta
 Born 598 (possibly) Ujjain, India
 Died 670 India
 Brahmagupta was an Indian mathematician and
astronomer. He is the author of two early works on
mathematics and astronomy
 a century and a quarter later, did so for the equation
 ax² + bx= c
Example:
x2 - 10x = -9:
given: a=1 b= -10 c=-9 x=

x= x=

x= x=

x= x=9
Several hundred years later, Bhāskara II did deal with multiple roots, at least when both
are positive. His basic technique for solving quadratic equations was that of completing
the square. Namely, he added an appropriate number to both sides of ax² + bx = c so that
the left side becomes a perfect square: (rx-S)²=d. He then solved the equation rx-S=√d for
x.

But, he noted, "if the root of the absolute side of the equation is less than the number,
having the negative sign, comprised in the root of the side involving the unknown, then
putting it negative or positive, a twofold value is to be found of the unknown quantity. In
other words, if √d<S, then there are two values for x, namely, (S + √d)/rand ( S-√d)/r.
Bhāskara did, however, hedge his bets. As he says, "this [holds] in some cases." We
consider two examples to see what he meant.
 Example:

The eighth part of a troop of monkeys,

squared, was skipping in a grove and
delighted with their sport. Twelve
remaining monkeys were seen on the
hill, amused with chattering to each
other. How many were they in all?
 𝑎𝑥 2 + bx =c

1 2
( 𝑥) + 12 = 𝑥
8
1 2
(( 8 𝑥) + 12 = 𝑥) 64

𝑥 2 + 768 = 64𝑥

𝑥 2 − 64𝑥 = −768

𝑥 2 − 64𝑥 + 322 = −768 + 322

𝑥 2 − 64𝑥 + 1024 = −768 + 1024

𝑥 2 − 64𝑥 + 1024 = 256

(x+32)(x−32) = 16
x = 48 and -16
The Indian mathematicians also handled equations in several variables.
“Doves are sold at the rate of 5 for 3 coins, cranes at the rate
of 7 for 5, swans at the rate of 9 for 7, and peacocks at the rate
of 3 for 9. A certain man was told to bring at these rates 10
birds for 100 coins for the amusement of the king's son and
was sent to do so. What amount does he give for each?”
•Mahāvira presented a version of the hundred fowls problem in his
major treatise, the Ganitasärasangraha:
Mahavira gave a rather complex rule for the solution.

•Bhāskara, on the other hand, presented the same problem with a

procedure showing explicitly why the problem has multiple solutions
He put his unknowns, which we label d, c, s, and p, equal
to the number of "sets" of doves, cranes, swans, and
peacocks, respectively. From the prices and the numbers
of birds he derived the two equations
3d +5c +7s +9p=100
5d +7c + 9s + 3p = 100
and proceeded to solve them.

3d +5c +7s +9p=100

5d +7c + 9s + 3p = 100
He solved each equation for d, then equated the two
expressions and found the equation c= 50 - 2s - 9p.
Taking an arbitrary value 4 for p, he reduced the
equation to the standard indeterminate form c +2s =
14, for which the solution is set c=14-2st, with t was
arbitrary.Then setting t = 3, he calculated that d = 1,
c= 8,s= 3, and p = 4, hence that the number of
doves is 5, of cranes 56, of swans 27, and of
peacocks 12, their prices being respectively 3, 40,
21, and 36. He noted further that other choices of
gave different values for the solution. Thus, “by
means of suppositions, a multitude of answers may
be obtained."
 V.
INDETERMINA
TE ANALYSIS
INDETERMINATE ANALYSIS
01

Linear Congruence

Indians learned the quadratic

Formula somehow from the Babylonians or from Diophantus,
we are fairly certain that Indian mathematicians originated
a method for solving linear congruence, because there is
no comparable method described anywhere else.
 
 Āryabhatta
Aryabhatta (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers
from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works
Linear Congruence include the Aryabhattya (499 CE, when he was 23 years
old) and the Arya-siddhanta.

Āryabhatta’s work:
A simple Diophantine equation would be ax + by = c. In this equation a, b and c
are given integers; and x and y unknown integers. Aryabhatta is the earliest
known work which examines integer solutions to Diophantine equations of the
form by = ax + c and by = ax – c.
 Brahmagupta
Brahmagupta was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. He is the author of two early works on
mathematics and astronomy: the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta

Brahmagupta works:
Known for: Zero; Modern number system.
He gave somewhat clearer explanations. He just presented an algorithm. Brahmagupta’s description
of his method of 𝑘𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑎 or “pulverizer,” taken from chapter 18 of his text, with an example he
used: N ≡ 10 (mod 137) and N ≡ 0 (mod 60).This problem can be rewritten as the single equation
137x + 10 = 60y.
Divide 137 by 60 and continue by dividing the residues
 Brahmagupta
In other words, apply the Euclidean algorithm until the final nonzero remainder is reached:

137 = 2 . 60 + 17
60 = 3 . 17 + 9
17 = 1 . 9 + 8
9=1.8+1

The final remainder is 1. Multiply that by some number v so that 1 . v ± 10 is exactly divisible by the last divisor,
in this case 8. Brahmagupta explained that one uses the + when there are an even number of quotients and the −
when there are an odd number.

Here, because 0 is one of the quotients, the last equation becomes 1v − 10 = 8w. Choose v = 18 and w = 1. The
new column of numbers is then;
0
2
3
1
1
18
1
 Brahmagupta
Multiply 18 by 1 and add 1 to get 19. Then replace the term “above,” namely, 1,
by 19, and remove the last term. Continue in this way (as in the table below)
until there are only two terms.

0 0 0 0 0 130
2 2 2 2 297 297
3 3 3 130 130
1 1 37 37
1 19 19
18 18
1

The top term, is 130. So x = 130, y = 297, is a solution to the original equation.
 The Pell Equation

The ability to solve systems of pairs of linear congruences turned out to
be important in the solution of another type of indeterminate equation,
the quadratic equation of the form Dx2±b=y2
Today, the special case where b = 1 is usually referred to as Pell’s
equation. But although there are indications that the Greeks could solve
a few of these equations, the general case, first developed in India, was
undoubtedly the high point of medieval Indian algebra.
Brahmagupta
Brahmagupta
He gave the first explanation of the method of solving these problems. And, as in the case of the 𝑘𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑎, he
introduced rules for dealing with equations of this type, in conjunction with examples.
This equation, 92x2+1=y2 will be solved here in considerably less than a year.

Brahmaguptas solution rule began as follows:

 Put down twice the square root of a given square multiplied by a multiplier and increased or
diminished by an arbitrary number

 The product of the first pair, multiplied by the multiplier, with the product of the last pair, is the
last root.

 The sum of the thunderbolt products [cross multiplication] is the [new] first root. The additive is
equal to the product of the additives.
 Bhaskara
Bhaskara’s goal in his Lilavati was to show how any equation of the form
Dx2±b=y2 can be solved in integers. He began by recapitulating Brahmagupta’s
procedure. In particular, he emphasized that once one had found one solution
pair, indefinitely many others could be found by composition.

More importantly, however, he discussed the so-called cyclic method. The basic
idea is that by continued appropriate choices of solution pairs for various
additives by use of the kuttaka method, one eventually reaches one that has the
desired additive 1.
 Bhaskara
Bhaskara’s rule for the general case Dx2±b=y2 and follow its use in one of his examples,
67x2+1=y2
 Making the smaller and larger roots and the additive into the dividend, the additive, and the
divisor,the multiplier is to be imagined

 When the square of the multiplier is subtracted from the “nature” or is diminished by the “nature”so
that the remainder is small, that divided by the additive is the new additive. It is reversed if the
square of the multiplier is subtracted from the “nature.” The quotient of the multiplier is the smaller
square root; from that is found the greatest root.

 Then it is done repeatedly, leaving aside the previous square roots and additives. They call this the
chakrav¯ala (circle). Thus there are two integer square roots increased by four, two or one. The
supposition for the sake of an additive one is from the roots with four and two as additives.
 VI.
COMBINATORICS
 Combinatorical rules appear in India, although again
without any proofs or justifications.
 For example, the medical treatise of Susruta, perhaps
written in the sixth century BCE, states that 63
combinations can be made out of six different tastes—
bitter, sour, salty, astringent, sweet, hot—by taking
them one at a time, two at a time,three at a time, and so
on.
 In other words, there are 6 single tastes, 15 combinations
of two, 20 combinations of three, and so forth. Other
works from the same general time period include similar
calculations dealing with such topics as philosophical
categories and senses. In all these examples, however,
the numbers are small enough that simple enumeration is
sufficient to produce the answers.
In the ninth century, Mahavira gave an
explicit algorithm for calculating the
number of combinations:  
The rule regarding the possible varieties
of combinations among given things:
 Beginning with one and increasing by
one, let the numbers going up to the
given number of things be written
down in regular order and in the
inverse order (respectively) in an
upper and a lower horizontal row.
If the product of one, two, three, or more of the
numbers in the upper row taken from right to left be
divided by the corresponding product of one, two,
three, or more of the numbers in the lower row,also
taken from right to left, the quantity required in each
such case of combination is obtained as the result.

Mahavira did not, however, give any proof of this

algorithm, which can be translated into the modern
formula;

C(n,r)=n(n-1)(n-2)...(n-r+1)/r!
 COMBINATIONS
The number of ways of choosing r elements
from S (order does not matter).
S={A,B,C}
e.g., AB , AC, CB
The number of r-combinations C(n,r) of a set
with n=|S| elements is

C(n,r)= n!/r!(n-r)!
Combination Example
How many ways if 3 balls can be selected of 5 balls.
The number of balls doesn’t matter
C(n,r)= n!/r!(n-r)!

C(5,3)= 5!/3!(5-3)!

5×4×3×2×1/ 3×2×1×2

20/2= 10 We have 10 ways

PERMUTATIONS

 A permutation of a set S of objects is an ordered

arrangement of the elements of S where each element
appears only once:
e.g., AB, AC, BA, BC, CA, CB,
 An ordered arrangement of r distinct elements of S is
called an r-permutation.
 The number of r-permutations of a set S with n=|S|
elements is

P(n,r) = n(n−1)…(n−r+1) = n!/(n−r)!

 MORE EXAMPLE
 A terrorist has planted an armed nuclear bomb in your
city, and it is your job to disable it by cutting wires to the
trigger device.
 There are 10 wires to the device.
 If you cut exactly the right three wires, in exactly the
right order, you will disable the bomb, otherwise it will
explode!
 If the wires all look the same, what are your chances of
survival?

P(10,3) = 10.9.8=720,
So there is a 1 in 720 chance
That you’ll survive
 VII.
TRIGONOMETRY
 1.) TRIGONOMETRY
 Derived from Greek trigōnon, “triangle” and
metron, “measure”.
 Began as a branch of geometry and was
utilized extensively by early Greek
mathematicians to determine unknown
distances.
 Branch of mathematics that studies
relationships between side lengths and angles
of triangles.
2.) HIPPARCHUS OF NICAEA (162-127 BCE)

 Founder of Trigonometry
 Greek Astronomer
 Mathematician
 Found a relationship between the lunar
and solar distances that enabled him to
calculate that the Moon’s mean distance
from Earth is approximately 63 times
Earth’s radius.
3.) PTOLEMY OF ALEXANDRIA (c.90 –
168 AD)
 Greek astronomer and
mathematician, worked out
the ideas of Hipparchus.
 He developed the Ptolemaic
Theory of Astronomy.
 Wrote the book “The
Almagest” around 150 AD.
4.) CONSTRUCTION OF SINE TABLES
 Golden Age Indian
Mathematician made
fundamental advances in the
Theory of Trigonometry.
 Indian astronomers used
trigonometry tables to
estimates the relative
distance of the Earth to the
sun and moon.
5.) PAITAMAHASIDDHANTA
 Earliest known Indian work
containing trigonometry, written in
the early fifth century.
 Contain a table of "half-chords", a
Sanskrit term jya-ardha.
 
 
 6.) ARYABHATA (476-550 AD)
 His work Aryabhatiya contains the
earliest surviving tables of sine
values and versine values, in
3.75° intervals from 0° to 90°, to an
accuracy of 4 decimal places.
 He used this to estimate the
circumference of Earth, arriving at
a figure of 24,835 miles, only 70
miles off its true value.
    
7.) STANZA II,12
 By what number the second Sine is less than the first
Sine and by the quotient obtained by dividing the sum of
the preceding Sines by the first sine, by the sum of these
two quantities the following fires are less than the first
Sine.
 
Indian Mathematicians use the following words:
jya  - sine
kojya - cosine
utkrama-jya - versine
otkram jya - inverse sine
 
8.) ETYMOLOGY OF SINE
 The English word “sine” comes
from a series of mistranslations of
the Sanskrit jya-ardha (chord-
half).
 Aryabhata frequently abbreviated
this term as jya or jiva.
9.) The “first sine” S₁ in Indian trigonometry always
means the Sine of an arc 3 ¾° = 3°45`, and this Sine, in a
circle of radius 3438.
The formula of nth Sine Sn (the Sine of n×3°45):

STANZA I,10
The twenty-four Sine [differences] reckoned in minutes of arc are
225,224,222,219,215,210,205,199,191,183,174,164,154,143,131,119,
106,93,79,65,51,37,22,7.33
 10.) SURYA SIDDHANTA
 By unknown authors and from
around 400 CE,
 It refers to eight part of the
minutes of a sign.
 First real use of sine, cosine,
inverse sine, tangent and
secants.
11.) VARĀHAMIHIRA (C. 505- 587)

 Indian astronomer and

mathematician
 Tabulated the cosine as well as
the sine for his radius 120.
 
 APPROXIMATION TECHNIQUES
Brahmagupta - Developed a more accurate
interpolation scheme using the second order
differences.

In general, Indian mathematicians never

restricted themselves to methods based on a
particular formal proof structure. Thus, even
though it is certain that they often knew how to
"prove" mathematical results, the extent texts
often demonstrate that once there was
sufficient plausibility to a result, it was just
passed down through the generations. 
 POWER SERIES
Madhava of Sangamagrama 
 Called the greatest mathematician-
astronomer of medieval India. 
 He founded the Kerala School of
Astronomy and Mathematics in the
late 14th Century.
 He discovered the infinite series for
the trigonometric functions of sine,
cosine, tangent and arctangent, and
many methods for calculating the
circumference of a circle.
Nilakantha (1444-1544)
 Major mathematician and astronomer in
Kerala School of astronomy and
mathematics.
 Credited for developing series
expansions of the trigonometric
functions.
 His work Tantrasamgraha around 1501,
was written on palm leaves.
Jyesthadeva (1500-1575)
 Mathematician and astronomer in Kerala
School of astronomy and mathematics
 Commentary in the
work of Nilakantha,  which is Yuktibhāṣā around
 1530.
 Yuktibhāṣā, which contains the derivation and
proof of the power series for the inverse
tangent, discovered by Madhava.
 VIII.
Transmission To and
From India
 Islamic scholars learned Indian
trigonometry when Indian works were
brought to Baghdad in the Eight century.

Decimal place value system travelled from

India through Islam to western Europe over a
period of several hundreds of years.
 Europeans ,just like the Indians, needed
precise trigonometric values for
navigation.
 The texts in which these power series
were described were easily available in
south India.
 The Jesuits in their quests to
proselytize in Asia, established a center
in south India in the late sixteenth
century.
THANK
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