Madhava (mathematician)
Madhava (* 1350 in Sangamagrāma near Cochin in Kerala ; † 1425 ) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer. He is the founder of the Kerala School of Mathematicians and Astronomers in South India.
Madhava is considered to be the discoverer of the first infinite series ( apart from the geometric series ), especially infinite series for arctangent, sine and cosine (corresponding to the Maclaurin series ), which were only rediscovered in Europe by James Gregory and Isaac Newton over 250 years later. Madhava (who found it around 1400) was able to get exact values for pi and values for sine tables.
No mathematical texts have survived from him (only a few astronomical texts), but his discoveries are passed down in later works by Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544) and Jyesthadeva (Yutikbhasa) and the Mahajyanayana prakara (method of calculating sines, 16th century).
Parameshvara is one of his students .
literature
- KV Sarma A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy , Hoshiarpur, 1972
- CT Rajagopal , MS Rangachari On medieval Keralese mathematics , Arch. History Exact Sci., Volume 35, 1986, pp. 91-99
- Radha Charan Gupta The Madhava-Gregory series , Math. Education, Volume 7, 1973, B67-B70.
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Madhava (mathematician). In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Madhava |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indian mathematician and astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1350 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sangamagramma , Kerala |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1425 |
| Place of death | India |