Mathematicians

From India

Baudhayana

c. 800–600 BCE · India

His Shulba Sutra, a manual for building fire altars, states the rule about right-angled triangles that we now name after Pythagoras.

The Shulba Sutras give √2 ≈ 577/408, correct to five decimal places.

Baudhayana (a modern bas-relief; an artist’s imagining)

A modern bas-relief; an artist’s imagining. Pur 0 0, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

Where you’ll meet Baudhayana here

GeometryHistory

They turn up beside problems and lessons on these topics.

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Aryabhata

476–550 CE · Kusumapura (Patna), Bihar

At 23 he wrote the Aryabhatiya (499 CE), a book in verse that gives π as 62832 ÷ 20000 = 3.1416.

India’s first satellite, launched in 1975, was named after him.

More about Aryabhata

Aryabhata (a modern statue; no likeness from his lifetime survives)
Aryabhata476–550 CEKusumapura (Patna), Bihar

A modern statue; no likeness from his lifetime survives. Cpjha13, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

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