Virasena

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Jainism
Jain Prateek Chihna.jpg
This article is part of a series on Jainism
Jain Prayers
Ṇamōkāra mantra · Micchami Dukkadam
Philosophy
Anekāntavāda · Syādvāda · Nayavāda · Cosmology  · Ahimsa · Karma · Dharma · Nirvana  · Kevala Jñāna  · Mokṣa · Dravya · Navatattva · Asteya · Aparigraha · Dharma · Gunasthana · Samsara
Major figures
The 24 Tirthankaras · Rishabha · Mahavira · Acharya  · Ganadhara · Siddhasena Divakara · Haribhadra
Sects
Digambara · Śvētāmbara
Texts
Kalpa Sūtra · Āgama · Tattvartha Sutra · Naaladiyar · Sanmatti Prakaran
Other
Parasparopagraho_Jivanam · Jain symbol · Jain flag · Timeline · Topics list
Festivals
Mahavir Jayanti · Paryushana · Diwali

Jainism Portal

Āchārya Virasena was an 8th century Indian mathematician and Jain philosopher and scholar. He was a student of the Jain sage Elāchārya.[1] He is also known to be a famous orator and an accomplished poet.[2] His most reputed work is the Jain treatise Dhavala. Late Dr. Hiralal Jain places the completion of this treatise in 816 AD.[3]

Virasena was a noted mathematician. He gave the derivation of the volume of a frustum by a sort of infinite procedure. He worked with the concept of ardhaccheda: the number of times a number could be divided by 2; effectively logarithms to base 2. He also worked with logarithms in base 3 (trakacheda) and base 4 (caturthacheda).[4]

Virasena gave the approximate formula C = 3d + (16d+16)/113 to relate the circumference of a circle, C, to its diameter, d. For large values of d, this gives the approximation π ≈ 355/113 = 3.14159292..., which is more accurate than the approximation π ≈ 3.1416 given by Aryabhata in the Aryabhatiya.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Indranandi. Shrutāvatāra
  2. ^ Jinasena. Ādi Purāņa
  3. ^ Nagrajji, Acharya Shri (2003). Agama and Tripitaka: Language and Literature. Concept Publishing Company. p. 530. ISBN 8170227305, 9788170227304. 
  4. ^ Gupta, R. C. (2000), "History of Mathematics in India", in Hoiberg, Dale; Ramchandani, Indu, Students' Britannica India: Select essays, Popular Prakashan, p. 329, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-xzljvnQ1vAC&pg=PA329&lpg=PA329&dq=Virasena+logarithm#v=onepage&q=Virasena%20logarithm&f=false 
  5. ^ Mishra, V.; Singh, S. L. (February 1997) [1995], "First Degree Indeterminate Analysis in Ancient India and its Application by Virasena", Indian Journal of History of Science 32 (2): 127–133 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages