NEW DELHI: Important works of ancient Indian mathematicians on topics like obliquity of earth or value of "pi" can now be deciphered from classical texts using a new software application, researchers have claimed.
R Anusha, student of Sastra University in Thanjavur, tweaked modules of an engineering software, used for signal processing and circuit testing, to decrypt ancient numerical systems used in classical texts authored by Indian philosophers of yore.
Their findings have been published in the science journal Current Science.
In ancient times, astronomers and mathematicians represented digits using linguistic phrases, a common practice in civilisations across globe that time.
Speaking to PTI over phone, V Ramanathan, one of the authors of the paper and a faculty at the Chemistry Department of the University, explained that in ancient literature and bodies of knowledge, numerals are embedded as words.
In India, philosophers, astronomers and mathematicians used three systems-- Katapaydi, Aryabhata and Bhutasankhya which used linguistic phrases-- to represent numbers.
In Bhutasankhya system, words for earth and moon were used to depict "1" while those for eyes, ears were used to denote "2". Katapaydi and Aryabhata's system use Devnagri consonants and vowels in a complex manner to depict numerals.
Giving an example of such numerical values in ancient scriptures, he said in 'Aryabhatiya', penned by Aryabhata, there is a verse "Bha Apakramo Grihaamsha".
Ramanathan, Fulbright fellow and member of INYAS, said the letter 'bha' represents number 24 and this completes the meaning of the sentence which reads as earth's obliquity is 24 degrees.
"It is very important to know the coding procedure to correctly decode the number. The software helps in decoding the numbers from words in an error free and fast manner," he said.
The Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) is an Initiative of Indian National Science Academy (INSA).
It was Ramanathan who seeded the idea in the mind of one
of his B Tech students, Anusha, having interests in historical and classical science literature.
With active help from C Nithya, another faculty at the University, and R Venketeswara Pai of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Anusha was able to develop a software platform wherein if a particular text from these scriptures was entered, the user can get numerical value associated with it quickening the decoding process.
The group plans to make the software open source and also develop an app so that anyone having interest can get down and starts decrypting these texts.
Ramanthan cited another text which gives value of "pi" "anunanunnanananunnanityai, ssmahatascakra kalavibhaktoh, candamsucandradhamakumpbhipalair, vyasastadarddham, ibhamaurvika syat".
In this, he said, the second and fourth lines are lyrical in nature while the first and third lines are numbers in codes using Katapayadi system of numerals.
He said the above verse means that the circumference of a circle with diameter 10000000000 (anunanunnanananunnanityai) is 3.1415926536 (candamsucandradhamakumpbhipalair).
"This verse is found in the text called Karana Padhati composed by Kerala mathematician Puthumana Somayaji and dated to the 15th century," Ramanathan said.
"pi" is commonly defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.The ratio is constant,regardless of the circle's size.
He also cited classic text Narayaneeyam written by Kerala philosopher and mathematician Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri who concludes his collection of about 1000 verses by saying AayurArogyasoukhyam Krishna which gives the number of days passed since the beginning of Kaliyug when this scripture namely Narayaneeyam was completed.
"From the above example of Narayaneeyam we see the creative and poetic ways of our thinkers incorporating the time stamp on their composition. They had not only given the accurate information of the time but also have managed poetic excellence by adhering to the metre and other requirements purely from poetry point of view," he said.
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