 |
BRAHMAGUPTA (598-668) |
_ |
|
| Brahmagupta was an mathematician born in
598 A.D. in northwest India. He was son of Jisnugupta and
lived most of his life in Bhillamala in the empire of
Harsha, which is now known as Bhinmal in Rajasthan. As a
result, Brahmagupta was called Bhillamalacarya, the
teacher from Bhillamala. Brahmagupta belonged to the
Ujjainschool of mathematics where he became head of
astronomical observatory. This mathematics centre of
India had been built with the help of brilliant
mathematicians such as Varamahira.
Brahmagupta wrote important works on mathematics and astrology. The first was Brahmasphutasiddhanta (The Opening of the Universe), written in 628 AD. Brahmagupta's second work was called Khandakhadyaka, written at age 67. Brahmagupta’s works covered mean longitudes of the planets, true longitudes of planets and conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars. In terms of arithmetic, Brahmagupta worked on the concept of zero and methods of solving indeterminate equations of the second degree. Additional information can be found at: http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Brahmagupta.html Photo courtesy of http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt725/Class/Brooks/Brahmagupta/image46.
|
|||
