Who is Father of Arithmetic?

Arithmetic is one of the oldest and most fundamental branches of Mathematics, dealing with numbers and traditional operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and so on. Arithmetic can be called the basics of number theory, dealing with numbers and finding out the relationship among numbers. It involves calculations among different numbers to obtain another number.

Let’s learn more about who described and explained arithmetic.

Father of Arithmetic

Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the seventh century, is regarded as the father of arithmetic. He was an astronomer and mathematician of great renown.

Brahmagupta’s father, Jisnugupta, was a Bhinmal-based astrologer (Rajasthan ). Despite his claim to be an astronomer, Brahmagupta is best known for his contributions to mathematics. He admitted to enjoying Mathematics and problem-solving.

Work of Brahmagupta

Ujjain was the epicentre of Ancient Indian mathematical astronomy. The director of this centre was Brahmagupta. While in Ujjain, Brahmagupta wrote several textbooks in mathematics and astronomy. These include ‘Durkeamynarda’ (672), ‘Khandakhadyaka’ (665), ‘Brahmasphutasiddhanta’ (628), and ‘Cadamakela’ (624).

Brahmagupta, like all other scholars of the time, used elliptical verse in his writing. His most famous work was Brahmasphutasiddhanta (Brahma’s Correct System of Astronomy, or The Opening of the Universe.) written in 628. This book is divided into twenty-five chapters and contains 1008 stanzas.

Historians believe Brahmagupta wrote the first ten because they are organized like typical mathematical astronomy texts from the time. It discusses the mean longitudes of the planets, true longitudes of the planets, the three problems of diurnal rotation, lunar eclipses, solar eclipses, risings and settings, the moon’s crescent, the moon’s shadow, conjunctions of the planets with each other, and conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars.

Remaining fifteen chapters appear to form a second work that is a significant addition to the original treatise. The earliest known text that treats zero as a number is the Brahmasphutasiddhanta. The Greeks and Romans used symbols, while the Babylonians used a shell to represent nothing. Brahmagupta introduced the concept of positive numbers, which he referred to as wealth, and negative numbers, which he referred to as debt.

Brahmagupta Formula

Brahmagupta discovered the formula for cyclic quadrilaterals, although it did not focus on the figure’s cyclic nature. Brahmagupta provided an approximate and exact formula for the area of any cyclic quadrilateral given the lengths of its sides.

Area = √(S – p)(S – q)(S – r)(S -s)

where,

• S = (p+q+r+s)/2

Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta – Correctly Established Doctrine of Brahma

Of the many book that were written by Brahmagupta, Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta written by him in 628 CE is the most prominent one. This book not only consists his astronomical work but a wide range of verses on mathematics are there too. A total of 1008 verse are there in this book. He also included various fundamentals of mathematics such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry and various algorithms in this book.

Although Brahmagupta believed as an astronomer who dabbled in mathematics, Brahmagupta is now best known for his contributions to mathematics. His works are source of inspiration for mathematicians and research scholars all around the world.