During the time of the Gupta Empire, Hindus would go in a temple and worship a picture of a Hindu god like Brahma, the one in the picture shown above. They also tolerated the religions of Buddhism and Jainism. The Gupta Empire had many great achievements and contributions.This creativity of the empire also translated into mathematics. Perhaps one of the Gupta’s most notable accomplishments was the discovery of the decimal system and zero as a placeholder. The decimal system and zero as a placeholder revolutionized mathematics and allowed for new equations, theorems, notations, and more to be established. The most significant mathematical discovery was the invention of the numerals. The number system was developed by a mathematician and astronomer named Aryabhatta in 498 CE. This system became known as the Arabic numerals, but it is really a Gupta accomplishment. These numerals paved the way for scientific discoveries during the Gupta Empire as well as today. Another notable accomplishment by the Gupta was developing zero and a decimal system. This concept was also developed by Aryabhatta around a similar time. This gave the world a scalable and flexible counting system, which revolutionized mathematics. The decimal system was based on the number 10. We still use a similar decimal system today. Aryabhatta is also known for developing the formula for finding the area of a triangle. Many would argue that there isn’t much importance in triangles, but triangles are the building blocks of all polygons. Therefore, finding the area of a triangle transformed architecture across the world. Plus, almost all mathematical calculations, especially in trigonometry, revolve around A=1/2bh, which is the formula for the area of a triangle. These numerous mathematical discoveries paved the way for many new scientific theories in years to come.
