Josia

Brahmagupta


 * The mathematician who first framed the rules of operation for zero was Brahmagupta. He was also to give a solution to indeterminate equations of the type ax2 + 1 = y2 and the founder of a branch of higher mathematics called “Numerical analysis”. No wonder Bhaskara, the great mathematician, conferred on him the title of Ganakachakrachudamani, the gem of the circle of mathematicians.http://profiles.incredible-people.com/brahmagupta/

Brahmagupta was born at Bhillamala (Bhinmal), in Gujarat, in 598 A.D.He probable lived most of his life in Bhillamala,there was no record of brahmagupta going to school but he was Influenced by the spread of Greek mathematical ideas.brahmagupta was famous for many things in math but Brahmagupta's most famous result in geometry is his formula for cyclic quadrilaterals Given the lengths of the sides of any cyclic quadrilateral, Brahmagupta gave an approximate and an exact formula for the figure's area.He became court astronomer to King Vyaghramukha of the Chapa dynasty. Of his two treatises, Brahmasphutasiddhanta and Karanakhandakhadyaka, the first is the more famous. It was a corrected version of the old astronomical text, Brahmasiddhanta. It was translated into Arabic, but erroneously titled Sind Hind. For several centuries the treatise remained a standard work of reference in India and the Arab countries.**

Babylonians

Babylonian mathematical texts are plentiful and well edited. In respect of time they fall in two different groups. One from the old Babylonians period (1830-1531 BC), the other mainly Seleucid from the last three or four centuries B.C. In respect of content there is barely any difference between the two groups of texts. Babylonian mathematics remained constant, in character and content, for nearly two millennia. The Babylonian system of mathematics was a base 60 numeral system. From this we derive the modern day usage of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 degrees in a circle. The Babylonians were able to make great advances in mathematics for two reasons. First, the number 60 has many divisors (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30), making calculations easier. Additionally, unlike the Egyptians and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values. Among the Babylonians' mathematical accomplishments was the determination of the square root of two correctly to seven places. They also demonstrated knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem well before Pythagoras, as evidenced by this tablet translated by Dennis Ramsey and dating to ca. 1900 BC: info came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonians#Mathematics

To solve a quadratic equation the Babylonians essentially used the standard formula. They considered two types of quadratic equation, namely

//x//2 + //bx// = //c// and //x//2 - //bx// = //c//

where here b, c were positive but not necessarily integers. The form that their solutions took was, respectively

//x// = √[(//b///2)2 + //c//] - (//b///2) //and// //x// = √[(//b///2)2 + //c//] + (//b///2).