Aryabhat and value of Pi

ARYABHATA and the Value of Pi [∏]

This is about the value of pi [∏], discovered by Âryabhata [3000 BCE]. Alberuni mentions that there could have been two Âryabhatas. If that is true [which is doubted] the earlier Âryabhata who lived in Kusumapura, which was like Silicon Valley for Technology today, was the ancient Âryabhata. His great work, Âryabhatîyam, became the great sourcebook of astronomical, mathematical and scientific knowledge. Since ancient times, several commentators have translated, explained with diagrams, and commented on Âryabhatîyam. However, recently, it was translated and mathematically explained by Walter Eugene Clark. This text was first published in Leiden by Kern. Soon, L. Rodet translated it into French in 1879, G. R. Kaye translated with notes in 1899. Sarada Kanta Ganguly explained the sutras of Âryabhatîyam mathematically with greater accuracy than Avadhesh Narayan Singh. Kripa Shankar Shukla also translated the text with commentary.

One of the greatest contributions of Âryabhatîyam is the value of pi [∏].

In the Ganitapāda of his great work, Âryabhatîyam [ganitapāda 10], the great astronomer/scientist/mathematician Âryabhata gives this aphorism:

चतुराधिकं शतं अष्टगुणं द्वाषष्टिः तथा सहस्राणाम् ।

अयुतद्वय-विष्कम्भस्यात् नः वृत्तपरिणाहः । ।

Add 4 to 100.

Multiply the result by 8.

Add 62,000 to the result.

The final result is approximately the circumference of a circle, whose diameter is 20,000.

IT WILL BE 3.1416

Prof Bina Chatterjee, who translated and explained Khanda Khādyaka of Brahmagupta with mathematics and diagrams, explains how Aryabhata arrived at the exact value of ∏.