A Look Back In History: Contribution of Indian Mathematicians in the field of Mathematics

• The chronology of Indian mathematicians spans from the Indus Valley Civilization and the Vedas to Modern India
• Mathematical concepts from India were transmitted to the Middle East, China, and Europe
• Ancient India was not only the land of sages, saints, and seers but also the land of scholars and scientists

September 13, 2016: Indian mathematicians have made a number of contributions in the field of mathematics that have significantly influenced scientists and mathematicians of the modern era. These include place-value arithmetical notations, the use of the ruler, the concept of zero, and, most importantly, the Arabic-Hindu numerals predominantly used today and likely into the future. But, in the course of time, the names are lost in the pages of History.

India has always been a field for mathematical development from time immemorial. Ancient Indian Architecture like 'Jantar Mantar', in Jaipur which is the largest observatories ever built, are the precedent of Indian Mathematic Calculations. There are more examples that show the course of Indian mathematical history and how well versed we were.

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The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, which was long before the European mathematicians.

Indian Mathematicians are the one who introduced 'Zero' and 'Concept of Infinity' to the world for the very first time. 'Decimal System' is also one of the greatest contributions by Indian mathematicians to the world of mathematics.

''Shunya'' as we say in Hindi for ''Zero'' was introduced by the extraordinary mathematicians Brahmagupta who was also known as 'Ganita Chakra Chudamani' among his fellow scientists which means ''the Gem of the circle of Mathematicians''.

Brahmagupta wrote many books but he is known for his work in Brahasaputasiddhanta which means 'Correct Treatise of Brahma' and includes many mathematical findings and rules of Arithmetics, all written in verse form. He came forth with Geometrical Theories and rules of Trigonometry in his book which are part of today's mathematical solutions.

When it comes to the contribution of Indian mathematicians the name of Legendary Aryabhatta is always heard of. Aryabhatta is still considered a legendary hero for his incredible work in the field of Algebra, Trigonometry, approximation of pie, Indeterminate equations, Place value system and zero.

Aryabhatta (AD 476–550) was the first in the line of great mathematicians and astronomers to provide a breakthrough in these fields. He is the father of the Hindu-Arabic number system which is of universal relevance today. His most famous works are the Aryabhatiya (AD 499 at age of 23 years) and Arya-Siddhanta.

"Where there is a will, there is a way'' is just the right term for another Great Legend Ramanujan. He was a self-taught mathematician with no specific or formal training in the field of mathematics and made extraordinary contributions, with his phenomenal works like Mathematical Analysis, Number Theory, Infinite Series, and Continued Fractions. His other contributions like Ramanujan's Master Theorem, Ramanujan Prime, Ramanujan Conjecture makes him India's one of the greatest mathematical geniuses.

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When he was 16, Ramanujan came across the book "A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics" by George S. Carr. This book was a collection of 5000 theorems, and it introduced Ramanujan to the world of mathematics. The next year, he had independently developed and investigated the Bernoulli numbers and had calculated Euler's constant up to 15 decimal places.

Bhaskara was also one of the greatest mathematicians of medieval India who lived in 12^th century, discovered some of the principles of Differential Calculus and showed how to apply it to astronomical computations. Keeping in mind that the earliest Discoveries by Newton or Leibniz that related to differential or integral calculus were in the 1660's. Bhaskara is well known for his work "Siddhanta Shiromani'' meaning "Crown of Treatises'' which includes work in Arithmetic, Algebra, Mathematics of the planets and spheres.

There is a famous book "Science in the Medieval World" written in the 11^th century by said al-Andalusi. The chapters show how vastly mathematicians from India have contributed to the world Mathematics.

Mathematicians like Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao (popularly known as CR Rao) well-known Statistician, famous for Theory of Estimations and Narendra Karmarkar is known for his Karmarkar's Algorithm. They are still contributing to mathematics at a global level. There is no doubt that the world today is greatly indebted to the contributions made by Indian mathematicians. We can see the glimpse of Indian mathematical approach in our ancient architecture, historical buildings and even in religion.

-by Aakash Mandyal of NewsGram. Twitter @Akashsen6