Aryabhatta - Iindian scientist (mathematician and astronomer)

Statue of Aryabhata on the grounds of IUCAA, Pune. As there is no known information regarding his appearance, any image of Aryabhata originates from an artist's conception.

Aryabhatta came to this world on the 476 A.D at Patliputra in Magadha which is known as the modern Patna in Bihar. Some people were saying that he was born in the South of India mostly Kerala. But it cannot be disproved that he was not born in Patlipura and then travelled to Magadha where he was educated and established a coaching centre. His first name is “Arya” which is a South Indian name and “Bhatt” or “Bhatta” a normal north Indian name which could be seen among the trader people in India.

No matter where he could be originated from, people cannot dispute that he resided in Patliputra because he wrote one of his popular “Aryabhatta-siddhanta” but “Aryabhatiya” was much more popular than the former. This is the only work that Aryabhatta do for his survival. His writing consists of mathematical theory and astronomical theory which was viewed to be perfect in modern mathematics. The calculation of 3.1416 is nearly the same with the true value of Pi which is 3.14159. 

Aryabhatta’s strongest contribution was zero.  

Another aspect of mathematics that he worked upon is arithemetic, algebra, quadratic equations, trigonometry and sine table.

The English interpretation of the above Shloka would be:

Add 4 to 100, multiply by 8, then add 62000, then divide by 20000. The result is "approximately" circumference of a circle of diameter 20000.

The answer of the above calculation is 62832/20000 = 3.1416.

By using the word "Asanna" (last word in the Sanskrit verse), Aryabhatta clearly states that the value so found is not exact, but an "approximate" one, something that was "approaching" the exact value. So he is referring to it being irrational.

This is quite a significant contribution, as it was not until the 17th century that Pi was proved to be irrational in Europe.

Aryabhatta was aware that the earth rotates on its axis. The earth rotates round the sun and the moon moves round the earth. He discovered the 9 planets position and related them to their rotation round the sun. Aryabhatta said the light received from planets and the moon is gotten from sun. He also made mention on the eclipse of the sun, moon, day and night, earth contours and the 365 days of the year as the exact length of the year. Aryabhatta also revealed that the earth circumference is 24835 miles when compared to the modern day calculation which is 24900 miles.

Aryabhatta have unusually great intelligence and well skilled in the sense that all his theories has became wonders to some mathematicians of the present age. The Greeks and the Arabs developed some of his works to suit their present demands. Aryabhatta was the first inventor of the earth sphericity and also discovered that earth rotates round the sun. He was the one that created the formula (a + b)² = a² + b² + 2ab. He also created a solution formula of solving the following equations:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + ……………… + n = n (n + 1)/2
1² + 2² + 3² + 4² + 5² + ……………….. + n² = n (n + 1) (2n + 1)/6
1³ + 2³ + 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + ………………….. n³ = (n (n + 1)/2)²
1⁴ + 2⁴ + 3⁴ + 4⁴ + 5⁴ + ………………….. + n⁴ = (n (n + 1) (2n + 1) (3n² + 3n – 1))/30