Bhāskara I

Bhaskara I was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the seventh century, born about 600, possibly in Saurastra in what is now Gujarat, and later working in a school of Aryabhata's followers at Asmaka. His surviving works are the Mahabhaskariya, the Laghubhaskariya and a commentary on the Aryabhatiya written in 629. The Mahabhaskariya is an eight chapter treatise on Indian mathematical astronomy that covers the longitudes of the planets, conjunctions of the planets with each other and with bright stars, eclipses of the sun and the moon, risings and settings, and the lunar crescent. In it he gave a rational fraction approximating the sine function with a maximum error of less than one percent, which he attributed to Aryabhata. He was a follower of Aryabhata I, and his commentary treats the mathematics of that work.