Sunday, April 5, 2015

Ancient Indian Math- Madhava of Sangamagrama

Madhava of Sangamagrama

Madhava of Sangamagrama (c. 1340 – c. 1425), was an Indian mathematician-astronomer from the town of Sangamagrama (present day Irinjalakuda) near Thrissur, Kerala, India. He is considered the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. He was the first to use infinite series approximations for a range of trigonometric functions, which has been called the "decisive step onward from the finite PROCEDURES of ancient mathematics to treat their limit-passage to infinity". His discoveries opened the doors to what has today come to be known as Mathematical Analysis. One of the greatest mathematician-astronomers of the Middle Ages, Madhava made pioneering contributions to the study of infinite series, calculus, trigonometry, geometry, and algebra.

Some scholars have also suggested that Madhava's work, through the writings of the Kerala school, may have been transmitted to Europe via Jesuit missionaries and traders who were active around the ancient port of Muziris at the time. As a result, it may have had an influence on later European developments in ANALYSIS and calculus.

They are the infinite series of the functions, sine, cosine and the arctangent. These infinite series are called by his name, Madhava sine series and Madhava Cosine series.

While the power series expansion of ArcTan is called Madhava-Gregory series, the power series are collectively called the Madhava Taylor series. The Pi series is known as Madhava Gregory series.

Sankara Varier, one of the foremost disciples of Madhava, had translated his poetic verses in in his Yuktideepika commentary on Tantrasamgraha-vyakhya, in verses 2.440 and 2.441

Multiply the arc by the square of the arc, and take the result of repeating that (any number of times). Divide (each of the above numerators) by the squares of the successive even numbers increased by that number and multiplied by the square of the radius. Place the arc and the successive results so obtained one below the other, and subtract each from the one above. These together give the jiva, as collected together in the verse beginning with "vidvan" etc.


Madhava's formula for Pi was discovered in the West by Gregory and Liebniz.

Madhava's sine series

sin x = x - x^3/3! + x^5/5! - x^7/7!+......

The Europeans encountered difficulties in using these precise sine values for determining longitude, as in the Indo-Arabic navigational techniques or in the Laghu Bhâskarîya. This is because this technique of longitude determination also required an accurate estimate of the size of the earth. Columbus had underestimated the size of the earth to facilitate funding for his project of sailing to the West. His incorrect estimate was corrected in Europe only towards the end of the 17th century CE.

Even so, the Indo-Arabic navigational technique required calculations while the Europeans lacked the ability to calculate. This is because algorismus texts had only recently triumphed over abacus texts and the European tradition of mathematics was “spiritual” and “formal” rather than practical, as Clavius had acknowledged in the 16th century and as Swift (of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ fame) had satirized in the 17th century. This led to the development of the chronometer, an appliance that could be mechanically used without any application of the mind.

http://www.astrognosis.com/html/madhavatrignometricseries.asp

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