Madhava of Sangamagrama
Mādhava of Sangamagrāma | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1340 |
| Died | c. 1425 (aged 75–85) |
| Occupation | Astronomer-mathematician |
| Known for | Discovery of power series Expansions of trigonometric Sine, Cosine and Arctangent functions Infinite series summation formulae for π |
| Notable work | Golavāda, Madhyāmanayanaprakāra, Veṇvāroha, Sphuṭacandrāpti |
| Title | Golavid (Master of Spherics) |
Mādhava of Sangamagrāma (Mādhavan) (c. 1340 – c. 1425) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer who is considered to be the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics in the Late Middle Ages. Madhava made pioneering contributions to the study of infinite series, calculus, trigonometry, geometry and algebra. He was the first to use infinite series approximations for a range of trigonometric functions, which has been called the "decisive step onward from the finite procedures of ancient mathematics to treat their limit-passage to infinity".