Aryabhata
Categories: Indian people stubs | Mathematician stubs | 476 births | Indian mathematicians | 5th century mathematicians | 6th century mathematicians | Indian astronomers
- This article is about the Indian astronomer Aryabhata, For information on Arybhata the first Indian satellite, see Aryabhata (satellite).
Aryabhata (आर्यभट) Āryabhaṭa) is the first of the great astronomers of the classical age of India. He was born in 476 AD in Ashmaka but later lived in Kusumapura, which his commentator Bhāskara I (629 AD) identifies with Patilputra (modern Patna).
Aryabhata gave the world the digit "0" (zero) for which he became immortal.His book, the Āryabhatīya, presented astronomical and mathematical theories in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the sun (in other words, it was heliocentric).He believes that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight and he believes that the orbits of the planets are ellipses. He correctly explains the causes of eclipses of the Sun and the Moon. The Indian belief up to that time was that eclipses were caused by a demon called Rahu. His value for the length of the year at 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes 30 seconds is an overestimate since the true value is less than 365 days 6 hours. This book is divided into four chapters: (i) the astronomical constants and the sine table (ii) mathematics required for computations (iii) division of time and rules for computing the longitudes of planets using eccentrics and epicycles (iv) the armillary sphere, rules relating to problems of trigonometry and the computation of eclipses. In this book, the day was reckoned from one sunrise to the next, whereas in his Āryabhata-siddhānta he took the day from one midnight to another. There was also difference in some astronomical parameters.
Aryabhata also gave close approximation for Pi. In the Aryabhatiya, he wrote: "Add four to one hundred, multiply by eight and then add sixty-two thousand. the result is approximately the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. By this rule the relation of the circumference to diameter is given." In other words, π ≈ 62832/20000 = 3.1416, correct to four rounded-off decimal places.
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