AN INVESTIGATION ON CONTRIBUTION OF MATHEMATICIANS IN DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is an international subject, and it has no geographical boundary for its development. Many countries have contributed for the development of the discipline of mathematics. The development of mathematical concepts started dates back to more than thousand years. For the development of the discipline mathematics, many countries mathematicians have contributed such as the Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese and Indians etc. The concept of mathematics have come to us only for the need of calculations in daily life and commercial activities, measurement of land around for crop and to predict astronomical events happening around us by observing day and night. Therefore, mathematics is a science, because it is based on observation and recorded systematically in logical order. The contribution of Indian mathematicians in the field of mathematics is far more than western mathematicians. Hence, this study is suggesting that, there is a need to introduce among us a good number of Indian Mathematician contributions to develop positive attitude among the learners and to appreciate the mathematics subject and contribution of Indian mathematicians in the field of mathematics. Ancient Indian mathematicians have contributed immensely to the field of mathematics. The invention of zero is attributed to Indians and this contribution outweighs all other made by any other nation since it is the basis of the decimal number system, without which no advancement in mathematics would have been possible. The number system used today was invented by Indians and it is still called Indo-Arabic numerals because Indians invented them and the Arab merchants took them to the western world. It is also noticed that there is a distinct and inequitable neglect off the contributions of the sub-continent. Many of the developments of Indian mathematics remain almost completely ignored, or worse or attributed to the scholars of other nationalities, often European. However a few historians (mainly European) are reluctant to acknowledge the contributions of Indian mathematicians. Some of the great mathematicians are Pythagoras, Fibonacci, Euclid, Archimedes, Rene Descartes, and Aryabhata, who have contributed significant inputs in the field of mathematics in ancient times.