Person: Ayyangar, A. A. Krishnaswami
Krishnaswami Ayyangar was an Indian mathematician who worked in Mysore. He produced important work on the history of Hindu mathematics.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- He studied at Pachaiappas College,Madras (now Chennai), and was awarded his M.A. in Mathematics in 1911 when he was 18 years old.
- He was then appointed to teach mathematics at Pachaiappas College and he taught there until 1918.
- Such a typical instance was the birth of Srinivasa Ramanujan in the Tamil country.
- Whatever be the other effects, it certainly led to an increased awareness and appreciation of the rich mathematical heritage of India and a renewal of interest in the study of mathematics.
- This renaissance in Tamil Nadu showed itself in the coming up of a number of gifted teachers, well versed not only in mathematics, but also in the mathematical legacy of the country.
- A A Krishnaswami Ayyangar was prominent among them.
- In 1918 Krishnaswami Ayyangar left Chennai and joined the Mysore Educational Service and worked in the Mathematics Department of Maharaja College.
- He also worked for some time as a Reader in the Department of Statistics, Andhra University at Waltair.
- During nearly three decades during which he taught and undertook research at Mysore he made many contributions to geometry, statistics, astronomy, the history of Indian mathematics, and other topics.
- His papers include: Ancient Hindu Mathematics (1921); The Hindu sine Table (1923-24); The mathematics of Aryabhata (1926); The Hindu Arabic numerals (2 parts) (1928,1929); Bhaskara and samclishta kuttaka (1929-30); New light on Bhaskara's chakravala or cyclic method of solving indeterminate equations of the second degree in two variables (1929-30); New proofs of old theorems - Apollonius and Brahmagupta (1920-30); Astronomy - past and present (1930); Some glimpses of ancient Hindu mathematics (1933); Fourteen calendars (1937); A new continued fraction (1937-38); The Bhakshali manuscript (1939); Theory of the nearest square continued fraction (2 parts) (1940, 1941); Peeps into India's mathematical past (1945); and Remarks on Bhaskara's approximation to the sine of an angle (1950).
- It establishes that Western writers, who had a bias towards Greek mathematicians, are wrong in saying that Hindus did not have their own system of numerals and that these numerals were spread by Arab merchants to their country.
- From India these numerals were adapted by others.
- Leonardo Fibonacci spread the Hindu numerals in Europe and in 1202 wrote his thesis Liber Abaci.
- traces the ancient Hindu mathematics from 800 B.C. to 1200 A.D. It has a brief description of the mathematics and astronomy developed by Indian mathematicians of that era.
- One is impressed by the scholarship of the author, his knowledge of the subject as well as of Sanskrit.
- Krishnaswami Ayyangar retired from the University of Mysore in 1947.
- Ayyangar joined the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in November 1923.
- He read the paper On the Sexi-Sectional Equation at a meeting of the Society on Friday 7 November 1924.
- He remained a member of the Society for about 10 years.
Born 1 December 1892, Attipattu, Chingleput district, Tamil Nadu, India. Died June 1953, Mysore, India.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Astronomy, Origin India
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
