Daniel DeFelippisPeriod 3

Born in 598 CE possibly in Ujjain, India

Wrote the Brahmasphutasiddhanta in 628 Translated as “The Opening of the Universe”

Wrote the Khandakhadyaka in 665

Died around 670 at about 70 years old Extremely large for that time period

Calculated year as 365 days, 6 hours, 5 minutes, and 19 seconds Less than 20 min. off of the actual value!

Made many celestial observations Directions for multiplying large numbers

by digits are similar to today’s methods Believed that the Earth was round Brahmagupta’s theorem for area of a

cyclic quadrilateral

One of the first to use zero as a numeral Provided rules for dealing with 0

X + 0 = X X - 0 = X X * 0 = 0 X/0 = 0 This was his mistake (as defined

today)

After Brahmagupta’s death, King Khalif Abbasid al-Mansoor invited the scholar Kanka to lecture to him about Brahmagupta’s findings and calculations. In 770, the king ordered that the writings be translated into Arabic. These works had major impacts on later Arab writers, like al-Khwarizimi, the “father of algebra”.

Brahmagupta’s work represents the classical and postclassical theme of the increasing of study and knowledge because he found new theories and relationships in mathematics and astronomy. The spread of his work after his death to Arabia and its influence on later peoples support the postclassical theme of the spread of knowledge especially via the Islamic world.

http://www.brahmagupta.net/index.html

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Brahmagupta/id/1937466

http://www.answers.com/topic/brahmagupta