Pingala (grammarian)
Pingala was an ancient Indian grammarian and mathematician.
He is the author of the oldest Sanskrit text on prosody , the Chandahshastra . The dating is uncertain and fluctuates around the first centuries before or after the birth of Christ - traditionally it is around 400 BC. Classified. In the 10th century, the mathematician Halayudha wrote a commentary on Chandahshastra .
In Chandahshastra , in connection with the discussion and classification of metrics, there is a form of the binary system (and thus its probably earliest mention), there is a form of the binomial theorem and the Fibonacci numbers . Halayudha's commentary brings a shape of Pascal's triangle .
literature
- Subhash Kak: Computing Science in Ancient India . In: Helaine Selin (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Kluwer / Springer, 2008
- Subhash Kak: Indian Binary Numbers and the Katapayadi Notation. In: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 81, No. 1/4, 2000, pp. 269-272
Individual evidence
- ^ Editions published by Albrecht Weber : Indian Studies . Volume 8, Leipzig 1863 and in Biblioteca Indica . Calcutta 1871–1874; Kapil Dev Dvivedi, Shyam Lal Singh: The Prosody of Pingala . Vishwaidyalaya Prakashan 2008, with English and Hindi translation ( content )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pingala |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indian mathematician and grammarian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | between 6th century BC BC and 9th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | between 6th century BC BC and 9th century |