Mathematical Ideas in Bakhshali Manuscript

Abstract

The Bakhshali manuscript is written on birch bark and according to its carbon-date proposed it was to be written at AD 224-383/ 885-993 and discovered in 1881 at Bakhshali village, Mardan – Peshawar at the present day it belongs to Pakistan, in the ancient day it belongs to India - on side of Indo-Iran. It is written in a form of literary Sanskrit. This manuscript comprises mathematical text that focuses on contents like the earliest use of zero symbol, Numerals, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Fractions & Square roots, Progression, Profit, Loss & Interest, Quadratic Equations, Intermediate Equations & many more. The first research on this Manuscript was done by Augustus Frederic Rudolf Hoernle after his death, the manuscript was further examined by G. R. Kaye who edited and published the work as a book in 1927. Some of the contents in this manuscript like the zero symbol, Numerals, Fractions, etc. are compiled from published books and other sources are studied & enlisted in this paper. The main point of focus is on earlier records of zero, a brief note on construction in mathematical formulation, Shunya-Bindu, Fractions, and facts that Indians far before invented various concepts in mathematics than the known timeline.