Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c7.12

c7.12

Āryabhaṭa I¹ might have obtained the solution x = (b - a)/(m - n) from the relation m x + a = nx + b and tackled the problem of inverse operation e.g. ax = pq and ax ± b = p by giving the solution as x = pq/a and ax = p b respectively and so on. Bhāskara I (600 A. D.), the earlist exponent of Āryabhaṭa I has used a technical term, *yāvakarana* in his *Āryabhaṭiyabhāṣya*. The word *yāva* (*yu* + *ghañ*) means ‘to mix’ or ‘to separate’. It is also synonymous with *varga* or *kṛti*. The operation on *yāva* has been preserved by Pṛthudaka (850 A. D.) in his commentary on the *Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta* as such