Brahmagupta essays

Brahmagupta essays Brahmagupta was born c. 598, in Bhillamala, which was located in Northwestern India. The suffix -gupta probably indicated that the family belonged to the Vaisya caste (made up of mostly farmers and merchants). He likely lived the majority of his life in Ujjain, India, which at the time was the center of Hindu astronomy and mathematics. There he had access to the best observatory in India as well as the writings of many great scientists and mathematicians who came before him, such as Hero of Alexandria, Ptomely, Diophantus and Aryabhata. In his own work he drew heavily from these sources and often corrected their mistakes. At the age of 30, Brahmagupta wrote his first book, Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta. In 25 chapters this work explains much of his work in astronomy and mathematics. One of his greatest contributions that was revealed with the Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta was the defining of zero. He defined it as the result of subtracting a number from itself. Some of the properties he listed follow: When zero is added to a number or subtracted from a number, the number remains unchanged; and a number multiplied by zero becomes zero. He also gave rules for zero in terms of fortunes, which represent positive numbers, and debts, the negative numbers, as well as fortunes related to debts: A debt subtracted from zero is a fortune. A fortune subtracted from zero is a debt. The product of zero multiplied by a debt of fortune is zero. The product of zero multiplied zero is zero. The product or quotient of two fortunes is one fortune. The product or quotient of two debts is one debt. The product or quotient of a debt and a fortune is a debt. The product or quotient of a fortune and a debt is a debt. In a failed attempt to extend these statements to include division by zero Brahmagupta stated that zero divided by zero is zer ...