This animation illustrates the basic concepts of the ancient Hindu Lunisolar calendar which is in active use in India even today. By definition, a lunisolar calendar is based on the orbital motion of the Sun and the Moon as observed from the Earth (i.e. in a geocentric model). Saura Mana The solar months (Rashis) are nothing but the familiar signs …

Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics Madhava is not only a pioneer in discovering an exact infinite series for pi, he is also a trail blazer in discovering rapidly convergent approximations and transformations of the series. In the same way, Madhava is not satisfied with merely enunciating the infinite series for the sine and cosine functions (the so called Newtons …

Researchers recently solved the cryptic deathbed puzzle renowned Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan claimed came to him in dreams. While on his death-bed in 1920, Ramanujan wrote a letter to his mentor, English mathematician G. H. Hardy, outlining several new mathematical functions never before heard of, along with a hunch about how they worked, decades later, researchers say they’ve proved he …

Vedic knowledge The mathematical tradition in India goes back at least to the Vedas. For compositions with a broad scope covering all aspects of life, spiritual as well as secular, the Vedas show a great fascination for large numbers. As the transmission of the knowledge was oral, the numbers were not written, but expressed as combinations of powers of 10. …