Date & Time: Friday, September 19, 2008, 17:00-18:30.
Venue: Ramanujan Hall

Title: History of Ancient Indian Mathematics: Some Thoughts

Speaker: Amartya K. Dutta, ISI Kolkata

Abstract: The talk consists of two parts:

  • Solutions of Indeterminate Equations
  • Mathematics in Different Phases of Indian History.

Equations which are to be solved in integers are called indeterminate or Diophantine equations. Ancient Indian mathematicians like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Jayadeva and Bhaskaracharya had given ingenious solutions of various indeterminate equations. In the first part of the talk, we shall discuss a few examples of equations solved by ancient Indian algebraists and highlight some ideas of modern (abstract) algebra that are implicit in their approach.

The second part of the talk is envisaged as an informal bridge between the general cultural history of India and the history of Indian mathematics. The plan is to highlight a few major landmarks in geometry, arithmetic and algebra and see the developments in a larger historical context.