A lecture note on Aryabhatt – Vedic Mathematician

VAC: IKS-301: Ancient Pioneers, Contributions and Architectural Wonders

B.Sc. Semester – 3 (NEP) (2024-25)
Prepared by,
K. R. Odedara
Assist. Prof. and Head,
Dept. of Mathematics,
R. R. Lalan College, Bhuj.
Dt.: 19/09/2024

Note: This is just a simplified version of a research paper cited below:

 Basar, Abul & Mustafa, Kamal & Ansari, & Satyanarayana, Dr Bhavanari & Poonam,
Kumar & Sharma, Poonam Kumar & Shaista, & Ansari, Iftekhar & Ahmad, Bhavanari &
Satyanarayana,. (2024). Aryabhata's pioneer contribution in mathematics: The father of
Indian mathematics. International Journal of Statistics and Applied Mathematics. 9.
116-123.

Summary: Aryabhata was a prominent Indian mathematician and astronomer who is the
Father of Indian Mathematics. He is well known all around the world for his elegant pieces
of work, legacy and inventions in these fields. He was the first mathematician cum
astronomer from the classical period of Indian mathematics and astronomy. His pieces of
work include the Aryabhatiya (c. 499), the main surviving Scripture from Aryabhata's
classical pieces of work which is scripted in 118 verses describing Hindu Mathematics up to
that time, and the now lost Aryasiddhanta. The place Kusumapura is situated near
Patalipurta (Patna), then the capital of the Gupta dynasty, where he wrote at least these
two pieces of treatises. It studies subjects such as plane and spherical trigonometry,
quadratic equations, arithmetic and algebra. Aryabhata is also considered a great pioneer
physicist for his explicitly describing the relativity of motion. Aryabhata's work also includes
his notions of cosine, sine, inverse sine, and versed sine, which forms the foundation of
trigonometry. He was also the first mathematician to obtain the calculation based on sine
and versine tables from 0 to 180 degrees with four decimal places of precision. Patliputra
was the centre of communications for network channel which facilitated learning from
other parts of the world to access it and also facilitated the mathematical, and astronomical
contents by Aryabhata and his school to travel across India and also eventually into the
Islamic world.

“We owe a lot to the ancient Indians teaching us how to count. Without which most
modern scientific discoveries would have been impossible”. Albert Einstein
Aryabhata’s Pioneer Pieces of Work
It is said that Aryabhata studied at Nalanda University. He later on became the Head
of the Department. His research performances at Nalanda include subjects in mathematics,
astronomy, physics, medicine, biology, and other fields of study. He gained his crucial source
of knowledge from Nalanda. His notable pieces of work were based on previous discoveries
by Mesopotamians, Greeks, and Nalanda University itself. Aryabhatiya, a Compendium
Commentary on Mathematics and Astronomy, was served as reference materials in the
Indian mathematical literature that has sustained itself up to modern cadence. The
mathematical section of the Aryabhatiya describes his comprehensive knowledge of plane
trigonometry, arithmetic, algebra, and spherical trigonometry. It also contains continued
fractions, quadratic equations, sums-of-power series, and a table on sines.
The empirical working attributes of Aryabhata are investigated only from the treatise
named Aryabhatiya. His disciple Bhaskara I calls it Ashmakatantra or the treatise from the
Ashmaka. It is also at times referred to as Arya-shatas-aShTa for there are 108 verses in the
text materials. It is noted in the very concise manner typical of Sutra Literature. It is
classified into four Padas or Chapters as follows.
1. Gitikapada with 13 compositions: Its various units of measurement of time: kalpa, Yuga
and manvantra, which describe a cosmology other than what has been described in earlier
texts such as Lagadha's Vedanga Jyotisha (c. first century BCE). There is also a table on sines,
i.e., jya, scripted in single. The duration of the planetary revolutions during a mahayuga is
recognized as 4.32 million years.
2. Ganitapada with 33 compositions: It investigates mensuration, i.e., kṣetra vyavahara,
arithmetic and geometric progressions; gnomon, i.e., shadows (easy), indeterminate
equations, quadratic, and simultaneous equations.
3. Kalakriyapada with 25 compositions: Its various units of measurement of time and a
method for determining the positions of planets are for a given day, calculations relating to
the intercalary month, and a seven-day week naming convention for the days of a week.
4. Golapada with 50 compositions: It investigates features of objects like the ecliptic, the
node, the celestial equator, the geometric and the trigonometric fields of the celestial
sphere, shape and size of the earth, factors for day and night, emergence of zodiacal signs
on horizon, etc. Furthermore, some versions make citation of colophons as addendum
affixed at the end, explaining the qualities of the pieces of work, etc.
He, in his treatise, Aryabhatiya, presented a number of innovations in mathematics
and astronomy in the form of commentary versions, which have been impactful for
centuries for the further development of the subject matter. He is familiar about his
description of relativity of motion.
The “Arya-siddhanta”, the lost pieces of work on astronomical computations, is seen
through making note of Aryabhata's contemporary, Varahamihira, and later mathematician
commentators, including Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. This classical work appears to be
based on the earlier “Surya Siddhanta” which was a Sanskrit summary on Greek and
Mesopotamian theories in astronomy and mathematics which applies exhibiting the mid-
night day reckoning, as opposed to that of the sunrise in Aryabhatiya.
A third text, which may have sustained itself in the Arabic translation, is Al-nanf or Al
ntf. It is said that it is a translation by Aryabhata, but the Sanskrit name of this work was
unspecified so far by then. Perhaps from the 9th century, it is mentioned by Abu Rayhan al-
Biruni who was the Persian Scholar and Analyst of India.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Algebra

The honour of ‘Father of Algebra' was also attributed to Aryabhata other than Al-
Khwarizmi and Diophantus because of Aryabhata’s notable understanding and explanation
of planetary systems. These pieces of his work of Algebra were established out of studying
the problem in astronomy for determining the periods of the planets. It describes integer
solutions to equations of the form 𝑏𝑦=𝑎𝑥+𝑐 and 𝑏𝑦=𝑎𝑥−𝑐, where 𝑎, are integers. Aryabhata
makes use of the algorithm called “Kuttaka” to solve problems of this type. It is well known
that the word Kuttaka means "to pulverise" and the method of breaking the problem down
into new problems where the coefficients become smaller and smaller with each step. The
method here is essentially making use of the Euclidean algorithm to find the greatest
common divisor of 𝑎 and 𝑏, and it is also related to continued fractions.
In Aryabhatiya, Aryabhata provided elegant results for the summation of series of
squares and cubes like those as follows:
12 + 22 + ⋯ + 𝑛2 = 𝑛(𝑛 + 1)(2𝑛 + 1)6,
13 + 23 + ⋯ + 𝑛3 = (1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ + 𝑛)2 .
Aryabhata gives formulae for the areas of a triangle and that of a circle which are
found to be correct. He introduced a mathematical algorithm for the sum of an arithmetic
progression 𝑆𝑛 . He also formulated another one for the number of terms 𝑛 given that the
sum is clearly in the knowledge domain. His course of action for computing the sum of an
arithmetic progression is based on the mathematical relationship between the initial term 𝑎
and the common difference 𝑑 of alternate terms.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Indeterminate Equations

In the general run of things, Diophantine equations can be even notoriously difficult
to work out. They were discussed extensively in ancient Vedic text in Sulba Sutras. Its rather
classical parts might date to 800 BCE. Aryabhata's method of solving these types of mix-ups,
as elaborated by Bhaskara in 621 CE, is called the kuṭṭaka which involves a recursive
algorithm for writing the original factors in smaller ones. This algorithm gets converted into
the standard method for solving first order diophantine equations in Indian mathematics. At
the outset, the whole subject of algebra was interestingly called kuṭṭaka-gaṇita or kuṭṭaka.
The Kuttaka method is even nowadays considered the standard method to find solutions to
these types of equations.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Motions of the Solar System

 Aryabhata correctly affirmed for each day that the Earth rotates about its axis. The
movement of the earth causes the movement of the star, contrary to the then prevailing
viewpoint, that it is the sky that got rotated. This work can be glanced in the first chapter of
the Aryabhatiya, where he discusses the number of rotations of the Earth in a Yuga, and
more explicitly in his gola section.
He described a geocentric model of the Solar System, in which the Sun and the Moon
are each brought by epicycles. They in turn revolve around the Earth. In this phenomenal
work, which is also found out there in the Paitamahasiddhanta (c. 425 CE), the motions of
the planets are stated to be each governed by two epicycles, larger sighra (i.e., fast) and a
smaller manda (i.e., slow). The sequence of the planets in terms of distance from the earth
is taken as: the Moon, the Mercury, the Venus, the Sun, the Mars, the Jupiter, the Saturn,
and the asterisms.
The settings and periods of the planets were computed with respect to uniformly
moving points. In case of Mercury and Venus, they move around the Earth at the same
mean speed as the Sun. In the event of the Mars, the Jupiter, and the Saturn, they rotate
the Earth at specific speeds, representing each planet's motion by the zodiac. Another
theme in Aryabhata's facsimile, the sighrocca, the fundamental planetary period in relation
to the Sun, is perceived by some as indicative of an underlying heliocentric replica.
He gives a systematic study of the setting of the planets in space. He gave the
circumference of the earth as 4,967 yojanas and its diameter as 15,81,124 yojanas. As 1
yojana = 5 miles, the circumference comes out to be 24,835 miles on the calculation, which
is an excellent approximation to the currently accepted value at 24,902 miles. He believed
that the rotation of the heavenly bodies was due to the axial moving around of the Earth.
This is quite a notable view of the natural phenomena of the solar system which later
commentators themselves could not bring to follow suit, and most of them got the text
modified to save him from what they considered were stupidity of mere erroneous
calculation!
He provides the radius of the planetary orbits in terms of the radius of the Earth/the
Sun orbit as essentially their periods of moving around the Sun. He believes that the Moon
and the planets shine by the reflected sunlight. Amazingly, he believes that the orbits of the
planets are elliptical in shape. He correctly describes the causes of eclipses of the Sun and
the Moon. His findings for the length of the year at 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes and 30
seconds are somehow overestimated for the exact value is less than 365 days and 6 hours.

Aryabhata’s Brief Work on Place Value System and Zero (0)

The introduction of zero (0) brought a lot of drastic changes not only in mathematics
but also in the day-to-day life of people. Zero(0) has so many different terms for it, for
example, ‘null’, ‘nil’, void, empty, ‘0’ as a digit, number, standing for absence of something,
‘sunya’ in Sanskrit, and so on. It is fascinating how the origin of zero brought out radical
transformation that is nowadays illustrated in mathematics.
 Aryabhata utilized the concept of zero (0) in his mathematical pieces of work, but he
did not ascribe a symbol for it. The actual symbol "0" and the origin of the word zero is said
to come from the Persian al-Khwarizmi about 450 years later. If one really wants to give
credit for the concept of zero, one needs to go back a hundred years before Aryabhata to
the Mayans or even 700 years back to the Babylonians. Although, it is stated to be fair to say
that modern use of the concept of zero comes from Aryabhata. He was acquainted with the
notion of zero as well as the application of larger numbers up to 1018.
It is also stated that the knowledge of zero (0) was not explicitly mentioned in
Aryabhata's place-value system as a place holder for the powers of ten having null
coefficients. Moreover, he did not apply the Brahmi numerals. Keeping the Sanskritic
tradition up from Vedic time onwards, he applied letters of the alphabet to depict numbers
expressing quantities like the table of sines in the form of mnemonic. His calculation of Pi is
a near approximation of the contemporary quantification that is considered the most
accurate one amongst the ancient ones.
The trace of zero (0) introduced by Aryabhata in India dates to the 5th century. Zero
(0) was in use to be represented as a dot in mathematics. Furthermore, when it reached
Arab, an oval shape was ascribed to the number that one today knows about as the digit or
number ‘0’. This is why zero belongs to the Hindu-Arabic number system. Succeeding
Aryabhata, Bramhaputra is credited for further study of zero. In the 7th century,
Bramhaputra started applying zero in mathematical operations. The first numeral zero
originates from a Hindu astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta in 628.
Around 1200 AD, an Italian mathematician Fibonacci gave zero (0) in Europe. In the
beginning, zero (0) was called ‘Sunya’ in India. It was called ‘Sifr’ in the Middle East when it
reached Italy. It then was named ‘Zefero’ and thereafter, it was called ‘Zero’ in English.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on the Value of π

The number 𝜋 is a constant in mathematics that is defined to be the ratio of a circle's
circumference and its diameter. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. The number 𝜋
appears in many formulae across mathematics and physics. It is an irrational number,
meaning that it cannot be expressed completely as a ratio of two integers, even though
fractions such as 22/7 are often employed to approximate it. Its decimal representation is
of non-terminating and non-repeating pattern. It is a transcendental number, implying that
it cannot be a solution of an equation involving only finite sums, products, powers, and
integers. The transcendence of 𝜋 implies that it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge
of squaring the circle with a straightedge and compass.
Aryabhata worked on the approximation for pi (π). It may have been observed that π
is irrational number. In the second part of the Aryabhatiyam (gaṇitapada 10), he explains
that for a circle whose diameter is 20000, the circumference will come out to be 62832.
62832
That is, 𝜋 = 20000.
It is speculated that Aryabhata used the word asanna (i.e., approaching), to mean
that not only this is an approximation but that the value is incommensurable (irrational). If
this is exact, it is quite a sophisticated and keen insight, since the irrationality of pi (π) was
proved in Europe only in 1761 by Lambert.
This approximation was seen noted in Al-Khwarizmi's book on algebra, after
Aryabhatiya was translated into Arabic (c. 820 CE).

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Pieces of Work on Trigonometry

Trigonometry forming from triangle (trigonon) and measure (metron) is a branch of
mathematics related to relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles.
Particularly, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its
side measurement.
These trigonometric identities are often applied for rewriting trigonometrical terms
with the aim to simplify a trigonometric expression to find a more useful form of an
expression or to solve an equation.
In Ganitapada 6, Aryabhata calculates the area of a triangle as that translates to: "for
a triangle, the result of a perpendicular with the half-side is the area." He described the
notion of sine in his work by the name of ardha-jya, which verbatim means "half-chord". For
the sake of simplicity, people started calling it jya. When the Arabic writers translated his
pieces of work from Sanskrit into Arabic, they expressed it as jiba. However, in Arabic
writings, vowels are omitted, and it was abbreviated as jb. Later writers substituted it with
jaib, meaning "pocket" or "fold” in a garment. It is to be noted that in Arabic, jiba is a
meaningless word. Later in the 12th century, when Gherardo of Cremona translated these
writings from Arabic into Latin, he replaced the Arabic jaib with its Latin counterpart, sinus,
which means "cove" or "bay"; that way originates the English word sine.
The modern definition of the sine is first displayed in the Surya Siddhanta, and its
characteristics were further prepared for documentation in the 5th century (AD) by Indian
mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata.These Greek and Indian pieces of work were
translated and expanded by medieval Islamic mathematicians too.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Motions of the Solar System

Aryabhata correctly insisted that the Earth rotates about its axis daily. He also
conceptualized the fact that the apparent movement of the stars is a relative motion caused
by the rotation of the Earth, contrary to the then existing perception, that the sky got
rotated. This is indicated in the first chapter of the Aryabhatiya, where he gives the number
of rotations of the Earth in a Yuga, and made that more clearly in his gola chapter.
Aryabhata described a geocentric model of the Solar System, in which the Sun and
the Moon are each carried by epicycles. They in turn revolve around the Earth. In this
representation, which is also found in the Paitamahasiddhanta (c. 425 CE), the motions of
the planets are each governed by two epicycles, a smaller manda (slow) and a larger sighra
(fast). The sequence of the planets in terms of its distance from earth is considered as: the
Moon, the Mercury, the Venus, the Sun, the Mars, the Jupiter, the Saturn, and the
asterisms.
 The positions and periods of the planets were found relative to uniformly moving
points of objects. In case of the Mercury and the Venus, the movement around the Earth is
considered at the same mean speed as the Sun. In case of the Mars, the Jupiter, and the
Saturn, the movement around the Earth is at specific speeds, representing each planet's
motion through the zodiac. Most historians of astronomy consider that these two epicycle
representations reflect elements of pre-Ptolemaic Greek astronomy. Another point in
Aryabhata's representation, the sighrocca, the basic planetary period in relation to the Sun,
is seen by some historical observers as an indication of an underlying heliocentric
representation.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Eclipses

An eclipse is an astronomical occurrence that happens when an astronomical
spacecraft or object is temporarily clouded by passing into the shadow of another heavenly
body or by having another body go through it and the observer. This layout of three celestial
bodies is understood as a syzygy. An eclipse is the result of either an occultation, completely
hidden event, or a transit, partially hidden event. A "deep eclipse" or "deep occultation" is
when a small astronomical body is behind a bigger one.
The eclipse is most often described as either a solar eclipse, when the Moon's
shadow crosses the Earth's surface, or a lunar eclipse, when the Moon moves into the
Earth's shadow. It can also refer to such events beyond the Earth: the Moon system: for
instance, a planet moving into the shadow cast by one of its moons, a moon passing into the
shadow cast by its host planet, or a moon passing into the shadow of another moon. A
binary star system can also cause eclipses if the plane of the orbit of its constituent stars
intersects the observer's stand at position.
Solar and lunar eclipses were scientifically explained by Aryabhata. He states that the
Moon and the planets shine by reflected sunlight. Instead of the existing cosmogony in
which eclipses were produced by Rahu and Ketu, identified as the pseudo-planetary lunar
nodes, he explains eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on the Earth. Thus, the
lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon enters into the Earth's shadow. He discusses at length
the size and extent of the Earth's shadow and then provides the computation and the size of
the eclipsed part during an eclipse. Later Indian astronomers improved on the
computations, but Aryabhata's methods provided the core concept in this respect. His
computational paradigm was an accurate one that the 18th-century scientist Guillaume Le
Gentil observed during a visit to Pondicherry, India.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Sidereal Periods

Sidereal period, the time needed for a celestial body within the solar system to
perform one complete revolution with respect to the fixed stars, i.e., as viewed from some
fixed point outside the system. The sidereal period of a planet can be computed if its
synodic period, i.e., the time for it to return to the same position with respect to the Sun
and the Earth, is known. The sidereal period of the Moon or an artificial satellite of the Earth
is the time required for it to return to the same position against the backdrop of stars.
 Aryabhata calculated the sidereal rotation, i.e., the rotation of the earth referencing
the fixed stars, as 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.1 seconds. Its modern value stands at
23:56:4.091. Similarly, his calculated value for the duration of the sidereal year is 365 days,
6 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds (i.e., 365.25858 days) with an error of 3 minutes and
20 seconds over the duration of a year, i.e., 365.25636 days.

Aryabhata’s Pieces of Work on Heliocentric

Copernican heliocentrism is the astronomical model designed by Nicolaus
Copernicus. This model got the position of the Sun at the center of the Universe, motionless,
with the Earth and the other planets orbiting around it in circular paths, modified by
epicycles, and at uniform speeds. The Copernican model displaced the geocentric model of
Ptolemy that had existed for centuries, which had placed the Earth at the center of the
Universe.
The concept of Indian heliocentrism has been advocated by B. L. van der Waerden.
Aryabhata favored an astronomical model in which the Earth turns on its own axis. His
model also gave corrections, i.e., the sigra anomaly for the speeds of the planets in the sky
in terms of the mean speed of the Sun. Thus, it has been suggested that his computations
were based on an underlying heliocentric model, in which the planets orbit the Sun, though
this has been disproved. It has also been indicated that aspects of Aryabhata's system may
have been obtained from an earlier, possibly pre-Ptolemaic Greek, heliocentric model of
which Indian astronomers were unaware, though the evidence is scant. The general
consensus is that a synodic anomaly, depending on the position of the Sun, does not infer a
physically heliocentric orbit, such corrections being also present in late Babylonian
astronomical texts, and that Aryabhata's system was not explicitly heliocentric.

Aryabhata’s Legacy and Invention

Aryabhata had the most outstanding visionary approach. His pieces of work were of
great applicability in the Indian astronomical tradition. It impacted several neighboring
cultures and civilizations through translational pieces of work. The Arabic translational work
during the Islamic Golden Age (c. 820 CE), was particularly noteworthy. Some of his results
are got referenced by Al-Khwarizmi and in the 10th century. Al-Biruni stated that
Aryabhata's followers believed that the Earth rotated on its axis.
His definitions of sine, cosine, versine, and inverse sine and that thus made way to
the birth of trigonometry. He was also the first to specify sine and versine (1−cos x) tables, in
3.75° intervals from 0° to 90°, to an accuracy of up to 4 decimal places.
In fact, modern names "sine" and "cosine" are mistranscriptions of the words jya and
kojya as introduced by Aryabhata. As mentioned, they were translated as jiba and kojiba in
Arabic and then misunderstood by Gerard of Cremona while translating an Arabic geometry
text to Latin. He assumed that jiba was the Arabic word jaib, which means "fold in a
garment", L. sinus (c. 1150).
Aryabhata's astronomical calculation methods were also very impactful. Along with
the trigonometric tables, they came to be widely applied in the Islamic world and computed
many Arabic astronomical tables (zijes). Particularly, the astronomical tables in the work of
the Arabic Spain scientist Al Zarqali of the 11th century were got translated into Latin as the
Tables of Toledo in the 12th century and remained the most accurate ephemeris applied in
Europe for centuries.
The Calendric calculations constructed by Aryabhata and his followers have been in
continuous use in India for application oriented of fixing the Panchangam i.e., the Hindu
calendar. In the Islamic world, they formed the basis of the Jalali calendar given in 1073 CE
by a cult of astronomers including Omar Khayyam, compositions of which, modified in 1925,
are the national calendars in use in Iran and Afghanistan today. The dates of the Jalali
calendar are actually based on the solar transition, as in Aryabhata and previously Siddhanta
calendars. This type of calendar requires an ephemeris for calculating dates. Although dates
were difficult to compute, seasonal errors were less in the Jalali calendar than in the
Gregorian calendar.
India's first satellite Aryabhata and the lunar crater Aryabhata are named in his
respect. The Aryabhata satellite also presented on the reverse of the Indian 2-rupee
currency. An Institute for conducting research in astrophysics, astronomy, and atmospheric
sciences is the Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) near Nainital,
India. The Bacillus aryabhata, a species of bacteria was discovered in the stratosphere by
ISRO scientists in 2009 as is the inter-school Aryabhata Mathematics Competition that also
got name after him.
Aryabhata Knowledge University (AKU), Patna has been founded by the state
Government of Bihar for the evolution and governance of educational infrastructure related
to technical, medical, governance and associated professional education in his honour. The
university is governed by Bihar State University Act 2008.