Indian Mathematics c11.11

c11.11

The fact is that in the time of el-Māmūn (A.D. 772) a certain Indian astronomical work (or certain works) was translated into Arabic. On this basis it was *assumed* that the Arabic astronomy and mathematics was wholly of Indian origin, while the fact that Indian works were translated is really only evidence of the intellectual spirit then prevailing in Baghdad. No one can deny that Āryabhaṭa and Brahmagupta preceded M. b. Mūsā¹ but the fact remains that there is not the slightest resemblance between the previous Indian works and those of M. b. Mūsā. The point was somewhat obscured by the publication in Europe of an arithmetical treatise by M. b. Mūsā under the title *Algoritmi de Numero Indorum*. As is well known the term India did not in mediæval times necessarily denote the India of to-day and despite the title there is nothing really Indian in the work. Indeed its contents prove conclusively that it is not of Indian origin. The same remarks apply to several other mediæval works.