Brahmagupta

Brahmagupta (Sanskrit: ;
listen ) (born c. book consists of 24 chapters with 1008 verses in the rya
598, died after 665) was an Indian mathematician and meter. A good deal of it is astronomy, but it also contains
astronomer.
key chapters on mathematics, including algebra, geometo
He is the author of two early works on mathematics and try, trigonometry and algorithmics, which are believed
contain new insights due to Brahmagupta himself.[4][6][7]
astronomy: the Brhmasphuasiddhnta (BSS, correctly established doctrine of Brahma", dated 628), a Later, Brahmagupta moved to Ujjain, which was also a
theoretical treatise, and the Khaakhdyaka (edible major centre for astronomy. At the mature age of 67, he
bite, dated 665), a more practical text. According to his composed his next well known work Khanda-khdyaka,
commentators, Brahmagupta was a native of Bhinmal.
which is a practical manual of Indian astronomy in the
[8]
Brahmagupta was the rst to give rules to compute with karana category meant to be used by students.
zero. The texts composed by Brahmagupta were com- Brahmagupta lived beyond 665 CE. He is believed to have
posed in elliptic verse in Sanskrit, as was common prac- died in Ujjain.
tice in Indian mathematics. As no proofs are given, it is
not known how Brahmaguptas results were derived.[2]

2 Controversy
1

Life and career

Brahmagupta had a plethora of criticism directed towards the work of rival astronomers, and in his Brahmasphutasiddhanta is found one of the earliest attested
schisms among Indian mathematicians. The division was
primarily about the application of mathematics to the
physical world, rather than about the mathematics itself. In Brahmaguptas case, the disagreements stemmed
largely from the choice of astronomical parameters and
theories.[9] Critiques of rival theories appear throughout
the rst ten astronomical chapters and the eleventh chapter is entirely devoted to criticism of these theories, although no criticisms appear in the twelfth and eighteenth
chapters.[9]

Brahmagupta was born in 598 CE according to his own

statement. He lived in Bhillamala (modern Bhinmal) during the reign of the Chapa dynasty ruler Vyagrahamukha.
He was the son of Jishnugupta. He was a Shaivite by
religion.[3] Even though most scholars assume that Brahmagupta was born in Bhillamala, there is no conclusive
evidence for it. However, he lived and worked there
for a good part of his life. Prithudaka Svamin, a later
commentator, called him Bhillamalacharya, the teacher
from Bhillamala.[4] Sociologist G. S. Ghurye believed
that he might have been from the Multan region or the
Abu region.[5]
Bhillamala, called pi-lo-mo-lo by Xuanzang, was the apparent capital of the Gurjaradesa, the second largest kingdom of Western India, comprising the southern Rajasthan
and northern Gujarat in modern-day India. It was also
a center of learning for mathematics and astronomy.
Brahmagupta became an astronomer of the Brahmapaksha school (one of the four major schools of Indian astronomy during this period). He studied the ve
traditional siddhanthas on Indian astronomy as well as
the work of other astronomers including Aryabhata I,
Latadeva, Pradyumna, Varahamihira, Simha, Srisena,
Vijayanandin and Vishnuchandra.[4]

3 Reception

The historian of science George Sarton called him one

of the greatest scientists of his race and the greatest
of his time.[8] Brahmaguptas mathematical advances
were carried on to further extent by Bhaskara I, a lineal descendant in Ujjain, who described Brahmagupta
as the ganaka-chakra-chudamani (the gem of the circle
of mathematicians). Prithudaka Svamin wrote commentaries on both of his works, rendering dicult verses into
simpler language and adding illustrations. Lalla and Bhatcenturies wrote commentaries
In the year 628, at an age of 30, he composed Brhmas- totpala in the 8th and 9th [10]
Further commentaries conon
the
Khanda-khadyaka.
phuasiddhnta (the improved treatise of Brahma) which
tinued
to
be
written
into
the
12th
century.[8]
is believed to be a revised version of the received siddhanta of the Brahmapaksha school. Scholars state that A few decades after the death of Brahmagupta, Sindh
he has incorported a great deal of originality to his revi- came under the Arab Caliphate in 712 CE. Expedision, adding a considerable amount of new material. The tions were sent into Gurjaradesa. The kingdom of
1

4 MATHEMATICS

Bhillamala seems to have been annihilated but Ujjain

repulsed the attacks. The court of Caliph Al-Mansur
(754-775) received an embassy from Sindh, including an astrologer called Kanaka, who brought (possibly memorized) astronomical texts, including those of
Brahmagupta. Brahmaguptas texts were translated into
Arabic by Muhammad al-Fazari, an astronomer in AlMansurs court under the names Sindhind and Arakhand. An immediate outcome was the spread of the
decimal number system used in the texts. The mathematician Al-Khwarizmi (800-850 CE) wrote a text called
al-Jam wal-tafriq bi hisal-al-Hind (Addition and Subtraction in Indian Arithmetic), which was translated into
Latin in the 13th century as Algorithmi de numero indorum. Through these texts, the decimal number system and Brahmaguptas algorithms for arithmetic have
spread throughout the world. Al-Khwarizmi also wrote
his own version of Sindhind, drawing on Al-Fazaris version and incorporating Ptolemaic elements. Indian astronomic material circulated widely for centuries, even passing into medieval Latin texts.[11][12][13]

4
4.1

Mathematics

4ac + b2 b
x=
2a
and

ac +
x=

b2
4

b
2

He went on to solve systems of simultaneous

indeterminate equations stating that the desired variable
must rst be isolated, and then the equation must be
divided by the desired variables coecient. In particular, he recommended using the pulverizer to solve
equations with multiple unknowns.
18.51. Subtract the colors dierent from
the rst color. [The remainder] divided by
the rst [colors coecient] is the measure of
the rst. [Terms] two by two [are] considered
[when reduced to] similar divisors, [and so on]
repeatedly. If there are many [colors], the pulverizer [is to be used].[14]

Algebra

Like the algebra of Diophantus, the algebra of Brahmagupta was syncopated. Addition was indicated by
Brahmagupta gave the solution of the general linear equa- placing the numbers side by side, subtraction by plaction in chapter eighteen of Brahmasphutasiddhanta,
ing a dot over the subtrahend, and division by placing
the divisor below the dividend, similar to our notation
but without the bar. Multiplication, evolution, and unThe dierence between rupas, when inknown quantities were represented by abbreviations of
verted and divided by the dierence of the unappropriate terms.[15] The extent of Greek inuence on
knowns, is the unknown in the equation. The
this syncopation, if any, is not known and it is possible
rupas are [subtracted on the side] below that
that both Greek and Indian syncopation may be derived
from which the square and the unknown are to
from a common Babylonian source.[15]
be subtracted.[14]
which is a solution for the equation bx + c = dx + e equiva4.2 Arithmetic
lent to x = e c/b d, where rupas refers to the constants
c and e. He further gave two equivalent solutions to the
Four fundamental operations (addition, subtraction, mulgeneral quadratic equation
tiplication and division) were known to many cultures before Brahmagupta. This current system is based on the
18.44. Diminish by the middle [number]
Hindu Arabic number system and rst appeared in Brahthe square-root of the rupas multiplied by four
masphutasiddhanta. Brahmagupta describes the multiplitimes the square and increased by the square
cation as thus The multiplicand is repeated like a string
of the middle [number]; divide the remainder
for cattle, as often as there are integrant portions in the
by twice the square. [The result is] the middle
multiplier and is repeatedly multiplied by them and the
[number].
products are added together. It is multiplication. Or the
18.45. Whatever is the square-root of the rumultiplicand is repeated as many times as there are compas multiplied by the square [and] increased
ponent parts in the multiplier. [16] Indian arithmetic was
by the square of half the unknown, diminish
known in Medieval Europe as Modus Indoram meanthat by half the unknown [and] divide [the reing method of the Indians. In Brahmasphutasiddhanta,
mainder] by its square. [The result is] the
Multiplication was named Gomutrika. In the beginning
unknown.[14]
of chapter twelve of his Brahmasphutasiddhanta, entitled Calculation, Brahmagupta details operations on fracwhich are, respectively, solutions for the equation ax2 + tions. The reader is expected to know the basic arithmetic
bx = c equivalent to,
operations as far as taking the square root, although he

4.3

Diophantine analysis

explains how to nd the cube and cube-root of an intezero] is zero. When a positive is to be subger and later gives rules facilitating the computation of
tracted from a negative or a negative from a
squares and square roots. He then gives rules for dealing
positive, then it is to be added.[14]
with ve types of combinations of fractions: a/c + b/c;
a/c b/d; a/1 + b/d; a/c + b/d a/c = a(d + b)/cd; and He goes on to describe multiplication,
a/c b/d a/c = a(d b)/cd.[17]
4.2.1

Series

Brahmagupta then goes on to give the sum of the squares

and cubes of the rst n integers.
12.20. The sum of the squares is that [sum]
multiplied by twice the [number of] step[s] increased by one [and] divided by three. The
sum of the cubes is the square of that [sum]
Piles of these with identical balls [can also be
computed].[18]
Here Brahmagupta found the result in terms of the sum
of the rst n integers, rather than in terms of n as is the
modern practice.[19]
He gives the sum of the squares of the rst n natural numbers as n(n + 1)(2n + 1)/6 and the sum of the cubes of the
rst n natural numbers as (n(n + 1)/2)2
.
4.2.2

18.33. The product of a negative and a positive is negative, of two negatives positive, and
of positives positive; the product of zero and a
negative, of zero and a positive, or of two zeros
is zero.[14]
But his description of division by zero diers from our
modern understanding, (Today division by zero is undenable. That isn't much either).
18.34. A positive divided by a positive or a
negative divided by a negative is positive; a zero
divided by a zero is zero; a positive divided by
a negative is negative; a negative divided by a
positive is [also] negative.
18.35. A negative or a positive divided by zero
has that [zero] as its divisor, or zero divided
by a negative or a positive [has that negative or
positive as its divisor]. The square of a negative
or of a positive is positive; [the square] of zero
is zero. That of which [the square] is the square
is [its] square-root.[14]

Zero

Here Brahmagupta states that 0/0 = 0 and as for the question of a/0 where a 0 he did not commit himself.[21]
Brahmaguptas Brahmasphuasiddhanta is the rst book His rules for arithmetic on negative numbers and zero are
that mentions zero as a number,[20] hence Brahmagupta is quite close to the modern understanding, except that in
considered the rst to formulate the concept of zero. He modern mathematics division by zero is left undened.
gave rules of using zero with negative and positive numbers. Zero plus a positive number is the positive number and negative number plus zero is a negative number 4.3 Diophantine analysis
etc. The Brahmasphutasiddhanta is the earliest known
text to treat zero as a number in its own right, rather than 4.3.1 Pythagorean triples
as simply a placeholder digit in representing another number as was done by the Babylonians or as a symbol for a In chapter twelve of his Brahmasphutasiddhanta, Brahlack of quantity as was done by Ptolemy and the Romans. magupta provides a formula useful for generating
In chapter eighteen of his Brahmasphutasiddhanta, Brah- Pythagorean triples:
magupta describes operations on negative numbers. He
rst describes addition and subtraction,
12.39. The height of a mountain multiplied
18.30. [The sum] of two positives is positives, of two negatives negative; of a positive
and a negative [the sum] is their dierence; if
they are equal it is zero. The sum of a negative
and zero is negative, [that] of a positive and
zero positive, [and that] of two zeros zero.
[...]
18.32. A negative minus zero is negative,
a positive [minus zero] positive; zero [minus

by a given multiplier is the distance to a city; it

is not erased. When it is divided by the multiplier increased by two it is the leap of one of
the two who make the same journey.[22]
Or, in other words, if d = mx/x + 2, then a traveller who
leaps vertically upwards a distance d from the top of a
mountain of height m, and then travels in a straight line
to a city at a horizontal distance mx from the base of the
mountain, travels the same distance as one who descends
vertically down the mountain and then travels along the
horizontal to the city.[22] Stated geometrically, this says

4 MATHEMATICS

that if a right-angled triangle has a base of length a = mx 4.4 Geometry

and altitude of length b = m + d, then the length, c, of
its hypotenuse is given by c = m(1 + x) d. And, in- 4.4.1 Brahmaguptas formula
deed, elementary algebraic manipulation shows that a2 +
b2 = c2 whenever d has the value stated. Also, if m and
x are rational, so are d, a, b and c. A Pythagorean triple
A
can therefore be obtained from a, b and c by multiplying each of them by the least common multiple of their
denominators.
q

4.3.2

Pells equation

Brahmagupta went on to give a recurrence relation for

generating solutions to certain instances of Diophantine
equations of the second degree such as Nx2 + 1 = y2
(called Pells equation) by using the Euclidean algorithm.
The Euclidean algorithm was known to him as the pulverizer since it breaks numbers down into ever smaller
pieces.[23]

C
The nature of squares:
18.64. [Put down] twice the square-root of
a given square by a multiplier and increased
or diminished by an arbitrary [number]. The
product of the rst [pair], multiplied by the
multiplier, with the product of the last [pair],
is the last computed.
18.65. The sum of the thunderbolt products is
the rst. The additive is equal to the product of
the additives. The two square-roots, divided by
the additive or the subtractive, are the additive
rupas.[14]

Diagram for reference

Main article: Brahmaguptas formula

Brahmaguptas most famous result in geometry is his
formula for cyclic quadrilaterals. Given the lengths of
the sides of any cyclic quadrilateral, Brahmagupta gave
an approximate and an exact formula for the gures area,

The key to his solution was the identity,[24]

(x21 N y12 )(x22 N y22 ) = (x1 x2 +N y1 y2 )2 N (x1 y2 +x2 y1 )2

12.21. The approximate area is the product of the halves of the sums of the sides and
opposite sides of a triangle and a quadrilateral. The accurate [area] is the square root
from the product of the halves of the sums
of the sides diminished by [each] side of the
quadrilateral.[18]

So given the lengths p, q, r and s of a cyclic quadrilateral,

which is a generalization of an identity that was discovthe approximate area is p + r/2 q + s/2 while, letting t =
ered by Diophantus,
p + q + r + s/2, the exact area is
(x21 y12 )(x22 y22 ) = (x1 x2 +y1 y2 )2 (x1 y2 +x2 y1 )2 .
Using his identity and the fact that if (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 )
are solutions to the equations x2 Ny2 = k1 and x2 Ny2
= k2 , respectively, then (x1 x2 + Ny1 y2 , x1 y2 + x2 y1 ) is a
solution to x2 Ny2 = k1 k2 , he was able to nd integral
solutions to Pells equation through a series of equations
of the form x2 Ny2 = ki. Brahmagupta was not able to
apply his solution uniformly for all possible values of N,
rather he was only able to show that if x2 Ny2 = k has an
integer solution for k = 1, 2, or 4, then x2 Ny2 = 1
has a solution. The solution of the general Pells equation
would have to wait for Bhaskara II in c. 1150 CE.[24]

(t p)(t q)(t r)(t s).

Although Brahmagupta does not explicitly state that these
quadrilaterals are cyclic, it is apparent from his rules that
this is the case.[25] Herons formula is a special case of
this formula and it can be derived by setting one of the
sides equal to zero.
4.4.2 Triangles
Brahmagupta dedicated a substantial portion of his work
to geometry. One theorem gives the lengths of the two
segments a triangles base is divided into by its altitude:

4.5

Trigonometry

12.22. The base decreased and increased

by the dierence between the squares of the
sides divided by the base; when divided by
two they are the true segments. The perpendicular [altitude] is the square-root from the
square of a side diminished by the square of
its segment.[18]

He continues to give formulas for the lengths and areas of

geometric gures, such as the circumradius of an isosceles trapezoid and a scalene quadrilateral, and the lengths
of diagonals in a scalene cyclic quadrilateral. This leads
up to Brahmaguptas famous theorem,

12.30-31. Imaging two triangles within

[a cyclic quadrilateral] with unequal sides, the
Thus the lengths of the two segments are 1/2(b c2
two diagonals are the two bases. Their two sega2 /b).
ments are separately the upper and lower segments [formed] at the intersection of the diHe further gives a theorem on rational triangles. A trianagonals. The two [lower segments] of the two
gle with rational sides a, b, c and rational area is of the
diagonals are two sides in a triangle; the base
form:
[of the quadrilateral is the base of the triangle]. Its perpendicular is the lower portion of
)
)
)
(
(
(
1 u2
1 u2
1 u2
u2the [central] perpendicular; the upper portion
a=
+v , b=
+w , c=
v + ofthe
w [central] perpendicular is half of the sum
2 v
2 w
2 v
w
of the [sides] perpendiculars diminished by the
for some rational numbers u, v, and w.[26]
lower [portion of the central perpendicular].[18]
4.4.3

Brahmaguptas theorem

4.4.4 Pi

Main article: Brahmagupta theorem

Brahmagupta continues,

In verse 40, he gives values of ,

12.40. The diameter and the square of the
radius [each] multiplied by 3 are [respectively]
the practical circumference and the area [of a
circle]. The accurate [values] are the squareroots from the squares of those two multiplied
by ten.[18]

So Brahmagupta uses 3 as a practical value of , and

10 as an accurate value of .

E
A

M
F
D

Brahmaguptas theorem states that AF = FD.

12.23. The square-root of the sum of the

two products of the sides and opposite sides
of a non-unequal quadrilateral is the diagonal.
The square of the diagonal is diminished by
the square of half the sum of the base and
the top; the square-root is the perpendicular
[altitudes].[18]

4.4.5 Measurements and constructions

In some of the verses before verse 40, Brahmagupta gives
constructions of various gures with arbitrary sides. He
essentially manipulated right triangles to produce isosceles triangles, scalene triangles, rectangles, isosceles trapezoids, isosceles trapezoids with three equal sides, and a
scalene cyclic quadrilateral.
After giving the value of pi, he deals with the geometry of plane gures and solids, such as nding volumes
and surface areas (or empty spaces dug out of solids). He
nds the volume of rectangular prisms, pyramids, and the
frustum of a square pyramid. He further nds the average depth of a series of pits. For the volume of a frustum
of a pyramid, he gives the pragmatic value as the depth
times the square of the mean of the edges of the top and
bottom faces, and he gives the supercial volume as the
depth times their mean area.[27]

So, in a non-unequal cyclic quadrilateral (that is, an

isosceles trapezoid), the length of each diagonal is pr 4.5
+ qs.

Trigonometry

6
4.5.1

7 CITATIONS AND FOOTNOTES

Sine table

Moon is farther from the Earth than the Sun, an idea

which had been suggested by Vedic scripture. He does
In Chapter 2 of his Brahmasphutasiddhanta, entitled this by explaining the illumination of the Moon by the
Planetary True Longitudes, Brahmagupta presents a sine Sun.[32]
table:
7.1. If the moon were above the sun, how
would the power of waxing and waning, etc.,
2.2-5. The sines: The Progenitors, twins;
be produced from calculation of the [longitude
Ursa Major, twins, the Vedas; the gods, res,
of the] moon? the near half [would be] always
six; avors, dice, the gods; the moon, ve, the
bright.
sky, the moon; the moon, arrows, suns [...][28]
Here Brahmagupta uses names of objects to represent the
digits of place-value numerals, as was common with numerical data in Sanskrit treatises. Progenitors represents
the 14 Progenitors (Manu) in Indian cosmology or 14,
twins means 2, Ursa Major represents the seven stars
of Ursa Major or 7, Vedas refers to the 4 Vedas or 4,
dice represents the number of sides of the tradition die
or 6, and so on. This information can be translated into
the list of sines, 214, 427, 638, 846, 1051, 1251, 1446,
1635, 1817, 1991, 2156, 2312, 1459, 2594, 2719, 2832,
2933, 3021, 3096, 3159, 3207, 3242, 3263, and 3270,
with the radius being 3270.[29]
4.5.2

Interpolation formula

Main article: Brahmaguptas interpolation formula

In 665 Brahmagupta devised and used a special case of
the NewtonStirling interpolation formula of the secondorder to interpolate new values of the sine function from
other values already tabulated.[30] The formula gives an
estimate for the value of a function f at a value a + xh of
its argument (with h > 0 and 1 x 1) when its value
is already known at a h, a and a + h.
The formula for the estimate is:

7.2. In the same way that the half seen

by the sun of a pot standing in sunlight is
bright, and the unseen half dark, so is [the illumination] of the moon [if it is] beneath the sun.
7.3. The brightness is increased in the direction of the sun. At the end of a bright [i.e.
waxing] half-month, the near half is bright and
the far half dark. Hence, the elevation of the
horns [of the crescent can be derived] from calculation. [...][33]
He explains that since the Moon is closer to the Earth
than the Sun, the degree of the illuminated part of the
Moon depends on the relative positions of the Sun and
the Moon, and this can be computed from the size of the
angle between the two bodies.[32]

6 See also
BrahmaguptaFibonacci identity
Brahmaguptas formula
Brahmagupta theorem
Chakravala method

List of Indian mathematicians

) 2 2
f (a) + f (a h)
x f (a h)
f (a+xh) f (a)+x
+
.
Muslim
conquests on the Indian subcontinent
2
2!
Caliphate campaigns in India
where is the rst-order forward-dierence operator, i.e.
(

def

f (a) = f (a + h) f (a).

Astronomy

Some of the important contributions made by Brahmagupta in astronomy are: methods for calculating the
position of heavenly bodies over time (ephemerides),
their rising and setting, conjunctions, and the calculation
of solar and lunar eclipses.[31]
In chapter seven of his Brahmasphutasiddhanta, entitled
Lunar Crescent, Brahmagupta rebuts the idea that the

7 Citations and footnotes

[1] Sachau, Edward C. (2013), Alberunis India, Routledge,
p. 156, ISBN 978-1-136-38357-1, Brahma-siddhnta, so
called from Brahman, composed by Brahmagupta, the son
of Jishnu, from the town of Bhillamla between Multn
and Anhilwra, 16 yojana from the latter place (?)
[2] Brahmagupta biography
[3] Bhattacharyya 2011, p. 185: Brahmagupta, one of the
most celebrated mathematicians of the East, indeed of the
world, was born in the year 598 c.e., in the town of Bhillamala during the reign of King Vyaghramukh of the Chapa
Dynasty.

[4] Gupta 2008, p. 162.

[5] Pillai, S. Devadas (1997), Indian Sociology Through
Ghurye, a Dictionary, Popular Prakashan, p. 216, ISBN
978-81-7154-807-1, Brahmagupta (b. 598 AD) was a native of either the Multan region of the Punjab (now this
areas is in Pakistan) or the Abu region of Rajasthan.
[6] Bhattacharyya 2011, pp. 185-186.
[7] Bose, Sen & Subbarayappa 1971.
[8] Gupta 2008, p. 163.
[9] Plofker (2007, pp. 418419)
[10] Bhattacharyya 2011, p. 185.
[11] Avari 2013, p. 32.
[12] Young, M. J. L.; Latham, J. D.; Serjeant, R. B. (2 November 2006), Religion, Learning and Science in the 'Abbasid
Period, Cambridge University Press, pp. 302303, ISBN
978-0-521-02887-5

[19] Plofker (2007, p. 423) Here the sums of the squares and
cubes of the rst n integers are dened in terms of the sum
of the n integers itself;
[20] Robert Kaplan, The Nothing That Is: A Natural History
of Zero, Allen Lane/The Penguin Press, London, 1999
[21] Boyer (1991, p. 220): However, here again Brahmagupta
spoiled matters somewhat by asserting that 0 0 = 0, and
on the touchy matter of a 0, he did not commit himself.
[22] Plofker (2007, p. 426)
[23] Stillwell (2004, pp. 4446): In the seventh century CE the
Indian mathematician Brahmagupta gave a recurrence relation for generating solutions of x2 Dy2 = 1, as we shall
see in Chapter 5. The Indians called the Euclidean algorithm the pulverizer because it breaks numbers down to
smaller and smaller pieces. To obtain a recurrence one
has to know that a rectangle proportional to the original
eventually recurs, a fact that was rigorously proved only in
1768 by Lagrange.
[24] Stillwell (2004, pp. 7274)

[13] van Bladel, Kevin (28 November 2014), Eighth Century

Indian Astronomy in the Two Cities of Peace, in Asad
Q. Ahmed; Benham Sadeghi; Robert G. Hoyland, Islamic
Cultures, Islamic Contexts: Essays in Honor of Professor
Patricia Crone, BRILL, pp. 257294, ISBN 978-90-0428171-4

[25] Plofker (2007, p. 424) Brahmagupta does not explicitly

state that he is discussing only gures inscribed in circles,
but it is implied by these rules for computing their circumradius.

[14] Plofker (2007, pp. 428434)

[27] Plofker (2007, p. 427) After the geometry of plane gures, Brahmagupta discusses the computation of volumes
and surface areas of solids (or empty spaces dug out of
solids). His straightforward rules for the volumes of a
rectangular prism and pyramid are followed by a more
ambiguous one, which may refer to nding the average
depth of a sequence of puts with dierent depths. The
next formula apparently deals with the volume of a frustum of a square pyramid, where the pragmatic volume
is the depth times the square of the mean of the edges of
the top and bottom faces, while the supercial volume
is the depth times their mean area.

[15] Boyer (1991, China and India p. 221) he was the rst
one to give a general solution of the linear Diophantine
equation ax + by = c, where a, b, and c are integers. [...]
It is greatly to the credit of Brahmagupta that he gave
all integral solutions of the linear Diophantine equation,
whereas Diophantus himself had been satised to give one
particular solution of an indeterminate equation. Inasmuch as Brahmagupta used some of the same examples
as Diophantus, we see again the likelihood of Greek inuence in India - or the possibility that they both made
use of a common source, possibly from Babylonia. It is
interesting to note also that the algebra of Brahmagupta,
like that of Diophantus, was syncopated. Addition was indicated by juxtaposition, subtraction by placing a dot over
the subtrahend, and division by placing the divisor below
the dividend, as in our fractional notation but without the
bar. The operations of multiplication and evolution (the
taking of roots), as well as unknown quantities, were represented by abbreviations of appropriate words.
[16] Brahmasputha Siddhanta, Translated to English by H.T
Colebrook, 1817 AD
[17] Plofker (2007, pp. 422) The reader is apparently expected
to be familiar with basic arithmetic operations as far as the
square-root; Brahmagupta merely notes some points about
applying them to fractions. The procedures for nding the
cube and cube-root of an integer, however, are described
(compared the latter to Aryabhatas very similar formulation). They are followed by rules for ve types of combinations: [...]
[18] Plofker (2007, pp. 421427)

[26] Stillwell (2004, p. 77)

[28] Plofker (2007, p. 419)

[29] Plofker (2007, pp. 419420) Brahmaguptas sine table,
like much other numerical data in Sanskrit treatises, is encoded mostly in concrete-number notation that uses names
of objects to represent the digits of place-value numerals,
starting with the least signicant. [...]
There are fourteen Progenitors (Manu) in Indian cosmology; twins of course stands for 2; the seven stars
of Ursa Major (the Sages) for 7, the four Vedas, and
the four sides of the traditional dice used in gambling, for
6, and so on. Thus Brahmagupta enumerates his rst six
sine-values as 214, 427, 638, 846, 1051, 1251. (His remaining eighteen sines are 1446, 1635, 1817, 1991, 2156,
2312, 1459, 2594, 2719, 2832, 2933, 3021, 3096, 3159,
3207, 3242, 3263, 3270). The Paitamahasiddhanta, however, species an initial sine-value of 225 (although the
rest of its sine-table is lost), implying a trigonometric radius of R = 3438 aprox= C(')/2: a tradition followed, as
we have seen, by Aryabhata. Nobody knows why Brahmagupta chose instead to normalize these values to R =
3270.

10

[30] Joseph (2000, pp.28586).

[31] Teresi, Dick (2002). Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots
of Modern Science. Simon and Schuster. p. 135. ISBN
0-7432-4379-X.
[32] Plofker (2007, pp. 419420) Brahmagupta discusses the
illumination of the moon by the sun, rebutting an idea
maintained in scriptures: namely, that the moon is farther from the earth than the sun is. In fact, as he explains,
because the moon is closer the extent of the illuminated
portion of the moon depends on the relative positions of
the moon and the sun, and can be computed from the size
of the angular separation between them.
[33] Plofker (2007, p. 420)

References
Avari, Burjor (2013), Islamic Civilization in South
Asia: A history of Muslim power and presence in the
Indian subcontinent, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-41558061-8
Bose, D. M.; Sen, S. N.; Subbarayappa, B. V.
(1971), A Concise History of Science in India, New
Delhi: Indian National Academy of Science, pp.
9597
Bhattacharyya, R. K. (2011), Brahmagupta: The
Ancient Indian Mathematician, in B. S. Yadav;
Man Mohan, Ancient Indian Leaps into Mathematics, Springer Science & Business Media, pp. 185
192, ISBN 978-0-8176-4695-0
Boyer, Carl B. (1991), A History of Mathematics,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc, ISBN 0-471-54397-7
Cooke, Roger (1997), The History of Mathematics:
A Brief Course, Wiley-Interscience, ISBN 0-47118082-3
Gupta, Radha Charan (2008), Selin, Helaine, ed.,
Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology,
and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Springer, pp.
162163, ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2, ISBN 1-40204425-9
Joseph, George G. (2000), The Crest of the Peacock,
Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-00659-8
O'Leary, De Lacy (2001) [rst published 1948],
How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs (2nd ed.),
Goodword Books, ISBN 8187570245
Plofker, Kim (2007), Mathematics in India, The
Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India,
and Islam: A Sourcebook, Princeton University
Press, ISBN 978-0-691-11485-9
Stillwell, John (2004), Mathematics and its History
(Second ed.), Springer Science + Business Media
Inc., ISBN 0-387-95336-1

EXTERNAL LINKS

Hockey, Thomas, ed. (2007), Brahmagupta, Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer

Science & Business Media, p.
165, ISBN
0387304002

9 Further reading
Seturo Ikeyama (2003). Brhmasphuasiddhnta
of Brahmagupta with Commentary of Pthdhaka,
critically edited with English translation and notes.
INSA.
David Pingree. Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit (CESS). American Philosophical Society. A4,
p. 254.
Shashi S. Sharma. Mathematics & Astronomers of
Ancient India. Pitambar Publishing.

10 External links
Brahmaguptas Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta edited by
Ram Swarup Sharma, Indian Institute of Astronomical and Sanskrit Research, 1966. English introduction, Sanskrit text, Sanskrit and Hindi commentaries
(PDF)
Algebra, with Arithmetic and mensuration, from
the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bhscara on the
Internet Archive, translated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke.

11
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