Mathematician:Bhaskara II Acharya
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Mathematician
Indian mathematician and astronomer.
One of the first to identify zero as a number in its own right.
He was so influential that his works were still being copied by as late as $1800$.
Nationality
Indian
History
- Born: 1114 in Vijayapura, near Bijjada Bida (in present day Bijapur district, Karnataka state), South India
- Died: 1185 in Ujjain, India
Theorems and Definitions
- A proof of Pythagoras' Theorem by dropping a perpendicular and investigating the relations between the ratios of the sides of the resulting similar triangles.
- A proof of Pythagoras' Theorem by calculating the same area in two different ways and then canceling out terms to get $a^2 b^2 = c^2$.
- Solutions of quadratic, cubic and quartic indeterminate equations.
Results named for Bhaskara II Acharya can be found here.
Publications
All written in ca. $1150$:
- Lilavati ("The Beautiful", about arithmetic, in particular rules for divisibility by $9$, $3$, $5$, $7$ and $11$)
- Bijaganita ("Seed Arithmetic", about algebra and the solution of equations)
- Siddhanta Shiromani (or Siddhantasiromani) which consists of two parts:
- Goladhyaya (sphere)
- Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets).
- It contains sine tables and various trigonometric relations.
- Vasanabhasya of Mitaksara (Bhaskara's own commentary on the Siddhanta Shiromani)
- Karanakutuhala (Calculation of Astronomical Wonders) or Brahmatulya (a simplified version of the Siddhanta Shiromani)
- Vivarana (a commentary on the Shishyadhividdhidatantra of Lalla.
Notable Quotes
- Behold!
- -- on demonstrating a proof of Pythagoras's Theorem
- The second value is in this case not to be taken, for it is inadequate; people do not approve of negative roots.
Also known as
In Kannada: ಭಾಸ್ಕರಾಚಾರ್ಯ
The name can also be rendered Bhāskara.
Known as Bhāskara II, Bhāskara Āchārya ("Bhāskara the teacher"), or Bhāskarāchārya, to distinguish him from Bhaskara I).
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Bhaskara II Acharya": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1938: A. Geary, H.V. Lowry and H.A. Hayden: Mathematics for Technical Students, Part One ... (previous) ... (next): Arithmetic: Chapter $\text I$: Decimals
- 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {B}.1$: The Pythagorean Theorem
- 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Indian Puzzles
- 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Bhaskara (1114 - c. 1185)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Bhaskara (1114-c.1185)
- 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $3$: Notations and Numbers: Brahmagupta, Mahavira and Bhaskara
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Bhāskara (1114-85)