Mathematics is the science which deals with the logic of quantity, shape, and arrangement. It is all around us and in everything we do. Money, sports, architecture (ancient and modern), television, mobile devices, and even art, all of it has some mathematical concepts involved in it.

In India, mathematics has its origins in Vedic literature which is nearly four thousand years old.  Various treatises on mathematics were authored by Indian mathematicians. The techniques of trigonometry, algebra, algorithm, square root, cube root, negative numbers, and the most significant decimal system are concepts which were discovered by Indian mathematicians from ancient India and are employed worldwide even today.

Indian geniuses have made revolutionary changes in the world of mathematics; let’s learn more about one such mathematician - Brahmagupta.

    WHO WAS BRAHMAGUPTA?

He was a renowned mathematician of the past. He gave to the world the sine table as well as the Pythagorean Triples. His most significant contribution was the introduction of ‘0’ and the fact that it stood for nothing. In the 7 century, Brahmagupta discovered the first general formula for solving quadratic equations.

 Brahmagupta was born in the year 598 CE during the reign of the Chavda dynasty emperor Vyagrahamukha. He lived in Bhillamala in Gurjaradesa, Western India's second-largest kingdom, which included modern-day India's southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. He was the son of Jishnugupta and practised Hinduism, namely Shaivitism. He spent a significant portion of his life there, both living and working. Brahmagupta died in 668 CE, and he is presumed to have died in Ujjain.

              LIFE AND DEATH

                     CAREER

Bhillamala was also a centre for mathematics and astronomy education. During this time, Brahmagupta became an astronomer of the Brahmapaksha school, one of India's four major astronomical schools. He studied the five traditional Siddhantas on Indian astronomy as well as the work of other astronomers including Aryabhata I, Latadeva, Pradyumna, Varahamihira, Simha, Srisena, Vijayanandin and Vishnuchandra.

In the year 628 CE , at the age of 30, he produced the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, which is thought to be a corrected version of the accepted Siddhanta of the Brahmapaksha school of astronomy.

Scholars claim that he added a significant amount of fresh information to his version, as well as a great lot of originality. The book is divided into 24 chapters and contains 1008 verses. It contains important chapters on mathematics, such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and algorithmics, etc. 

Brahmagupta afterwards relocated to Ujjain, Avanti, which was also a significant astronomical centre in central India. At the age of 67, he completed his next well-known book, Khandakhadyaka, a karana category practical manual of Indian astronomy intended for pupils.

          THE DISCOVERY OF ZERO

The first modern equivalent of numeral zero came from Brahmagupta in 628CE. His symbol to depict the numeral was a dot underneath a number. He also wrote standard rules for reaching zero through addition and subtraction and the results of operations that include the digit.

A circle inscribed on a temple wall in Gwalior, India, dates back to the ninth century. According to the University of Oxford, this is the oldest recorded example of zero. The numeral can also be seen on an ancient Indian scroll called the Bhakehali Manuscript.

Rules:

- Defined zero as the number you get when you subtract a number from itself.

- Said that zero divided by any other number is zero.

- Said dividing zero by zero produces zero. (Although, this seems reasonable, Brahmagupta actually got this one wrong. Mathematicians have now shown that zero divided by zero is undefined – it has no meaning. There really is no answer to zero divided by zero.)