Twig Talk — The “Pi” Value

Ancient India’s most famous mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata is widely recognized for contributing the concept of zero to the world. As we know zero has formed the basis for the evolution of modern mathematics.
A lesser-known fact perhaps is his work on the discovery of the important mathematical constant pi (π).

Aryabhata, one of the brightest minds in the Ancient world, in his seminal work ‘Aryabhatiya’, mentions the work and derivation of “pi” with a unique approach of mathematics and astronomy, which has survived till modern times. Studying the ‘Aryabhatiya’ shows beyond doubt that Aryabhata had indeed discovered and worked on the concept of pi long before the Western world was even aware of its existence.

The Aryabhatiya, written in Sanskrit consists of 108 verses divided into 4 padas or chapters. The second pada called the Ganitapada (Ganita = mathematics) bears a reference to the concept (and approximate value) of pi. In Ganitapada 10, Aryabhata says
“caturadhikam śatamaṣṭaguṇam dvāṣaṣṭistathā sahasrāṇām
ayutadvayaviṣkambhasyāsanno vṛttapariṇāhaḥ”

More than 4700 years ago, the famous Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta (b. 2765 BC) gave 62832/20000 = 31416/10000 = 3.1416 as an approximation of π [21]. He calculated π by measuring the diameter of the circle in a remainderless unit and then measuring the circumference in the same unit.

This fact clearly demonstrates that Aryabhatta and for that matter the then Indian mathematicians/astronomers knew that π is an irrational number, however, finitely small the unit of measurement be.

Twig Gyan: If you google the discovery of “pi”, Wikipedia says that pi was invented by William Jones, a mathematician from Wales, in the 1970s. But there is enough proof that the concept was well known to the ancient mathematician basis of their work.