Vedic Mathematics Seminar: Contribution of Mahaviracharya to Mathematics
Group: Tarun
Class: XI Sc.
Sarawati Vidya Mandir, Damanjodi
Name of the participant: Bikash Mahapatra
Guide Teacher: Mr. M. S. Panda, PGT- Mathematics,
S.V.M, NALCO, Damanjodi
SIGNATURE OF THE PRINCIPAL SIGNATURE OF GUIDE TEACHER SIGNATURE OF PARTICIPANT
Contributions of Mahaviracharya to Mathematics
Mahavira was 8thcentury (c. 800–870) Indian mathematician (Jain) from Gulbarga who asserted that the square root of a negative number did not exist. He gave the sum of a series whose terms are squares of a arithmetical progression and empirical progression and empirical rules for area and perimeter of an iliipse. He was patronised by the great Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha Nrupatunga.
Mahavira was the author of Ganit Sara Sangraha. He separated Astrology from Mathematics. He expanded on the same subjects Arybhata and Brahmagupta had worked on, but he expressed them more clearly.
He is highly respected among Indian mathematicians, because of his establishment of terminology for concepts such as equilateral and isosceles triangle, rhombus, circles and semicircle. Mahavira’s eminence spread all over south India and his books proved inspirational to other mathematicians in South India. It was translated into Telugu by Pavaluri Sanganna as Saara Sangraha Ganitam.
At the beginning of his work, Mahavira stresses the importance of mathematics in both secular and religious life and in all kinds of disciplines, including love and cooking. While giving rules for zero and negative quantities, he explicitly states that a negative number has no square root because it is not a square (of any “real number”). Besides mixture problems (interest and proportions), he treats various types of linear and quadratic equations (where he admits two positive solutions) and improves on the methods of Aryabhata I (b. 476). He also treats various arithmetic and geometric, as well as...