Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta

The Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta ("Correctly Established Doctrine of Brahma", abbreviated BSS) is the main work of Brahmagupta, written c. 628. Τhe text is notable for its mathematical content, as it contains ideas including a good understanding of the role of zero, rules for manipulating both negative and positive numbers, a method for computing square roots, methods of solving linear and quadratic equations, and rules for summing series, Brahmagupta's identity, and Brahmagupta’s theorem.

The book was written completely in verse and does not contain any kind of mathematical notation. Nevertheless, it contained the first clear description of the quadratic formula (the solution of the quadratic equation).[1][2]

Brahmasphuta-siddhantas rules for numbers

Brhmasphuta-siddhanta is one of the first mathematical books to provide concrete ideas on positive numbers, negative numbers, and zero. He wrote the following rules:[3]

The last of these rules is notable as the earliest attempt to define division by zero, even though it is not compatible with modern number theory (division by zero is undefined for a field).[4]

References

  1. Bradley, Michael. The Birth of Mathematics: Ancient Times to 1300, p. 86 (Infobase Publishing 2006).
  2. Mackenzie, Dana. The Universe in Zero Words: The Story of Mathematics as Told through Equations, p. 61 (Princeton University Press, 2012).
  3. Henry Thomas Colebrooke. Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bháscara, London 1817, p. 339 (online)
  4. Kaplan, Robert (1999). The nothing that is: A natural history of zero. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 68–75. ISBN 0-19-514237-3.

External links

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