Āryabhaa (Devanāgarī: आररभट) (b.

476 AD – 550, Bihar) is the first in the line of

great mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics
and Indian astronomy. His most famous works are the Aryabhatiya (499) and
Arya-Siddhanta.
[edit]

Biography

Aryabhata was born in the region lying between Narmada and Godavari, which
was known as Ashmaka,and is now identified with Maharashtra, though early
Buddhist texts describe Ashmaka as being further south, dakShiNApath or the
Deccan, while other texts describe the Ashmakas as having fought Alexander,
which would put them further north. Other traditions in India claim that he was
from Kerala and that he travelled to the North, or that he was a Maga Brahmin
from Gujarat.

However, it is fairly certain that at some point, he went to Kusumapura for higher
studies, and that he lived here for some time. Bhāskara I (AD 629) identifies
Kusumapura as Pataliputra (modern Patna). He lived there in the dying years of
the Gupta empire, the time which is known as the golden age of India, when it
was already under Hun attack in the Northeast, during the reign of Buddhagupta
and some of the smaller kings before Vishnugupta.

His first name “Arya” is a term used for respect, such as "Sri", whereas Bhatta is
a typical north Indian name -- found today usually among the “Bania” (or trader)
community in Bihar.
[edit]

Works

Aryabhata is the author of several treatises on mathematics and astronomy,

some of which are lost. His major work, Aryabhatiya, a compendium of
mathematics and astronomy, was extensively referred to in the Indian
mathematical literature, and has survived to modern times.

The Arya-siddhanta, a lost work on astronomical computations, is known through

the writings of Aryabhata's contemporary Varahamihira, as well as through later
mathematicians and commentators including Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. This
work appears to be based on the older Surya Siddhanta, and uses the midnight-
day-reckoning, as opposed to sunrise in Aryabhatiya. This also contained a
description of several astronomical instruments, the gnomon (shanku-yantra), a
shadow instrument (chhAyA-yantra), possibly angle-measuring devices, semi-
circle and circle shaped (dhanur-yantra / chakra-yantra), a cylindrical stick yasti-
yantra, an umbrella-shaped device called chhatra-yantra, and water clocks of at
least two types, bow-shaped and cylindrical.
A third text that may have survived in Arabic translation is the Al ntf or Al-nanf,
which claims to be a translation of Aryabhata, but the Sanskrit name of this work
is not known. Probably dating from the ninth c., it is mentioned by the Persian
scholar and chronicler of India, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī.
[edit]

Aryabhatiya

Direct details of Aryabhata's work are therefore known only from the Aryabhatiya.
The name Aryabhatiya is due to later commentators, Aryabhata himself may not
have given it a name; it is referred by his disciple Bhaskara I as Ashmakatantra
or the treatise from the Ashmaka. It is also occasionally referred to as Arya-
shatas-aShTa, lit., Aryabhata's 108, which is the number of verses in the text. It is
written in the very terse style typical of the sutra literature, where each line is an
aid to memory for a complex system. Thus, the explication of meaning is due to
commentators. The entire text consists of 108 verses, plus an introductory 13,
the whole being divided into four pAdas or chapters:

# gitikApAda: (13 verses) large units of time - kalpa, manvantra, yuga, which
present a cosmology that differs from earlier texts such as Lagadha's Vedanga
Jyotisha(ca. 1st c. BC). Also includes the table of sines (jya), given in a single
verse. For the planetary revolutions during a mahayuga, the number of 4.32mn
years is given. # gaNitapAda (33 verses), covering mensuration (kShetra
vyAvahAra), arithmetic and geometric progressions, gnomon / shadows (shanku-
chhAyA), simple, quadratic, simultaneous, and indeterminate equations
(kuTTaka) # kAlakriyApAda (25 verses) : different units of time and method of
determination of positions of planets for a given day. Calculations concerning the
intercalary month (adhikamAsa), kShaya-tithis. Presents a seven-day week, with
names for days of week. # golapAda (50 verses): Geometric/trigonometric
aspects of the celestial sphere, features of the ecliptic, celestial equator, node,
shape of the earth, cause of day and night, rising of zodiacal signs on horizon
etc. In addition, some versions cite a few colophons added at the end, extolling
the virtues of the work, etc.

The Aryabhatiya presented a number of innovations in mathematics and

astronomy in verse form, which were influential for many centuries. The extreme
brevity of the text was elaborated in commentaries by his disciple Bhaskara I
(Bhashya, ca. 600) and by Nilakantha Somayaji in his Aryabhatiya Bhasya,
(1465).
[edit]

Mathematics

[edit]

Place Value system and zero

The number place-value system, first seen in the 3rd century Bakhshali
Manuscript was clearly in place in his work. ; he certainly did not use the symbol,
but the French mathematician Georges Ifrah argues that knowledge of zero was
implicit in Aryabhata's place-value system as a place holder for the powers of ten
with null coefficients .

However, Aryabhata did not use the brahmi numerals; continuing the Sanskritic
tradition from Vedic times, he used letters of the alphabet to denote numbers,
expressing quantities (such as the table of sines) in a mnemonic form.
[edit]

Pi as Irrational

Aryabhata worked on the approximation for Pi (<math>\pi</math>), and may

have realized that <math>\pi</math> is irrational. In the second part of the
Aryabhatiyam (gaitapāda 10), he writes:

chaturadhikam śatamaśaguam dvāśaśistathā sahasrāām

Ayutadvayaviśkambhasyāsanno vrîttapariaha.<i> : "Add four to
100, multiply by eight and then add 62,000. By this rule the
circumference of a circle of diameter 20,000 can be approached."

In other words, <math>\pi</math>= ~ 62832/20000 = 3.1416, correct to five

digits. The commentator Nilakantha Somayaji, (Kerala School, 15th c.) interprets
the word </i>āsanna<i> (approaching), appearing just before the last word, as
saying that not only that is this an approximation, but that the value is
incommensurable (or irrational). If this is correct, it is quite a sophisticated
insight, for the irrationality of pi was proved in Europe only in 1761 by Lambert) .

After Aryabhatiya was translated into Arabic (ca. 820 AD) this approximation was
mentioned in Al-Khwarizmi's book on algebra.
[edit]

Mensuration and trigonometry

In Ganitapada 6, Aryabhata gives the area of triangle as : </i>tribhujasya

phalashariram samadalakoti bhujardhasamvargah<i> that translates to: for a
triangle, the result of a perpendicular with the half-side is the area.
[edit]

Indeterminate Equations

A problem of great interest to Indian mathematicians since ancient times has

been to find integer solutions to equations that have the form ax + b = cy, a topic
that has come to be known as diophantine equations. Here is an example from
Bhaskara's commentary on Aryabhatiya: : : Find the number which gives 5 as the
remainder when divided by 8; 4 as the remainder when divided by 9; and 1 as
the remainder when divided by 7. i.e. find N = 8x+5 = 9y+4 = 7z+1. It turns out
that the smallest value for N is 85. In general, diophantine equations can be
notoriously difficult. Such equations were considered extensively in the ancient
Vedic text Sulba Sutras, the more ancient parts of which may date back to 800
BCE. Aryabhata's method of solving such problems, called the </i>kuaka (कक टटक)
method. Kuttaka means pulverizing, that is breaking into small pieces, and the
method involved a recursive algorithm for writing the original factors in terms of
smaller numbers. Today this algorithm, as elaborated by Bhaskara in AD 621, is
the standard method for solving first order Diophantine equations, and it is often
referred to as the Aryabhata algorithm<bgref> Amartya K Dutta, Diophantine
equations: The Kuttaka, Resonance, October 2002. Also see earlier overview:
<i>Mathematics in Ancient India,.</bgref>.

The diophantine equations are of interest in cryptology, and the RSA Conference,
2006, focused on the </i>kuttaka<i> method and earlier work in the Sulvasutras.
[edit]

Astronomy

Aryabhata's system of astronomy was called the </i>audAyaka system (days are
reckoned from uday, dawn at lanka, equator). Some of his later writings on
astronomy, which apparently proposed a second model (ardha-rAtrikA, midnight),
are lost, but can be partly reconstructed from the discussion in Brahmagupta's
khanDakhAdyaka<i>. In some texts he seems to ascribe the apparent motions of
the heavens to the earth's rotation.
[edit]

Motions of the Solar System

Aryabhata appears to have believed that the earth rotates about its axis. This is
made clear in the statement, referring to </i>Lanka , which describes the
movement of the stars as a relative motion caused by the rotation of the earth:
:Like a man in a boat moving forward sees the stationary objects as moving
backward, just so are the stationary stars seen by the people in lankA (i.e. on the
equator) as moving exactly towards the West. [achalAni bhAni
samapashchimagAni - golapAda.9]

But the next verse describes the motion of the stars and planets as real
movements: “The cause of their rising and setting is due to the fact the circle of
the asterisms together with the planets driven by the provector wind, constantly
moves westwards at Lanka”.

Lanka (lit. Sri Lanka) is here a reference point on the equator, which was taken
as the equivalent to the reference meridian for astronomical calculations.
Aryabhata described a geocentric model of the solar system, in which the Sun
and Moon are each carried by epicycles which in turn revolve around the Earth.
In this model, which is also found in the Paitāmahasiddhānta (ca. AD 425), the
motions of the planets are each governed by two epicycles, a smaller manda
(slow) epicycle and a larger śīghra (fast) epicycle. The order of the planets in
terms of distance from earth are taken as: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the asterisms.

The positions and periods of the planets were calculated relative to uniformly
moving points, which in the case of Mercury and Venus, move around the Earth
at the same speed as the mean Sun and in the case of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn
move around the Earth at specific speeds representing each planet's motion
through the zodiac. Most historians of astronomy consider that this two epicycle
model reflects elements of pre-Ptolemaic Greek astronomy.<bgref>Otto
Neugebauer, "The Transmission of Planetary Theories in Ancient and Medieval
Astronomy," <i>Scripta Mathematica, 22(1956): 165-192; reprinted in Otto
Neugebauer, Astronomy and History: Selected Essays, New York: Springer-
Verlag, 1983, pp. 129-156. ISBN 0-387-90844-7</bgref> Another element in
Aryabhata's model, the </i>śīghrocca, the basic planetary period in relation to the
Sun, is seen by some historians as a sign of an underlying heliocentric
model.<bgref>Hugh Thurston, <i>Early Astronomy, New York: Springer-Verlag,
1996, pp. 178-189. ISBN 0-387-94822-8</bgref>
[edit]

Eclipses

He states that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight. Instead of the
prevailing cosmogyny where eclipses were caused by pseudo-planetary nodes
Rahu and Ketu, he explains eclipses in terms of shadows cast by and falling on
earth. Thus the lunar eclipse occurs when the moon enters into the earth-shadow
(verse gola.37), and discusses at length the size and extent of this earth-shadow
(verses gola.38-48), and then the computation, and the size of the eclipsed part
during eclipses. Subsequent Indian astronomers improved on these calculations,
but his methods provided the core. This computational paradigm was so accurate
that the 18th century scientist Guillaume le Gentil, during a visit to Pondicherry,
found the Indian computations of the duration of the lunar eclipse of 1765-08-30
to be short by 41 seconds, whereas his charts (by Tobias Mayer, 1752) were long
by 68 seconds..

Aryabhata's computation of Earth's circumference as 24,835 miles, which was

only 0.2% smaller than the actual value of 24,902 miles. This approximation
might have improved on the computation by the Greek mathematician
Eratosthenes (c.200 BC), whose exact computation is not known in modern
units.
[edit]
Sidereal periods

Considered in modern English units of time, Aryabhata calculated the sidereal

rotation (the rotation of the earth referenced the fixed stars) as 23 hours 56
minutes and 4.1 seconds; the modern value is 23:56:4.091. Similarly, his value
for the length of the sidereal year at 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes 30 seconds is
an error of 3 minutes 20 seconds over the length of a year. The notion of sidereal
time was known in most other astronomical systems of the time, but this
computation was likely the most accurate in the period.
[edit]

Heliocentrism

Āryabhata claims that the Earth turns on its own axis and some elements of his
planetary epicyclic models rotate at the same speed as the motion of the planet
around the Sun. This has suggested to some interpreters that Āryabhata's
calculations were based on an underlying heliocentric model in which the planets
orbit the Sun. A detailed rebuttal to this heliocentric interpretation is in a review
which describes B. L. van der Waerden's book as "show[ing] a complete
misunderstanding of Indian planetary theory [that] is flatly contradicted by every
word of Āryabhata's description," although some concede that Āryabhata's
system stems from an earlier heliocentric model of which he was unaware. It has
even been claimed that he considered the planet's paths to be elliptical, although
no primary evidence for this has been cited. Though Aristarchus of Samos (3rd
century BC) and sometimes Heraclides of Pontus (4th century BC) are usually
credited with knowing the heliocentric theory, the version of Greek astronomy
known in ancient India, </i>Paulisa Siddhanta<i> (possibly by a Paul of
Alexandria) makes no reference to a Heliocentric theory.
[edit]

Legacy

Aryabhata's work was of great influence in the Indian astronomical tradition, and
influenced several neighbouring cultures through translations. The Arabic
translation during the Islamic Golden Age (ca. 820), was particularly influential.
Some of his results are cited by Al-Khwarizmi, and he is referred to by the 10th
century Arabic scholar Al-Biruni, who states that Āryabhata's followers believed
the Earth to rotate on its axis.

His definitions of sine, as well as cosine (</i>kojya), versine (ukramajya), and

inverse sine (otkram jya), influenced the birth of trigonometry. He was also the
first to specify sine and versine (1 - cosx) tables, in 3.75° intervals from 0° to 90°,
to an accuracy of 4 decimal places.

In fact, the modern names "sine" and "cosine", are a mis-transcription of the
words jya and kojya as introduced by Aryabhata. They were transcribed as jiba
and kojiba in Arabic. They were then misinterpreted by Gerard of Cremona while
translating an Arabic geometry text to Latin; he took jiba to be the Arabic word
jaib, which means "fold in a garment", L. sinus<i> (c.1150).

Aryabhata's astronomical calculation methods were also very influential. Along

with the trigonometric tables, they came to be widely used in the Islamic world,
and were used to compute many Arabic astronomical tables (zijes). In particular,
the astronomical tables in the work of the Arabic Spain scientist Al-Zarqali (11th
c.), were translated into Latin as the Tables of Toledo (12th c.), and remained the
most accurate Ephemeris used in Europe for centuries.

Calendric calculations worked out by Aryabhata and followers have been in

continuous use in India for the practical purposes of fixing the Panchanga, or
Hindu calendar, These were also transmitted to the Islamic world, and formed the
basis for the Jalali calendar introduced 1073 by a group of astronomers including
Omar Khayyam, versions of which (modified in 1925) are the national calendars
in use in Iran and Afghanistan today. The Jalali calendar determines its dates
based on actual solar transit, as in Aryabhata (and earlier Siddhanta calendars).
This type of calendar requires an Ephemeris for calculating dates. Although dates
were difficult to compute, seasonal errors were lower in the Jalali calendar than
in the Gregorian calendar.

India's first satellite Aryabhata, was named after him.

The lunar crater Aryabhata is named in his honour.

The interschool Aryabhatta Maths Competition is named after him.