Brahmagupta

598–668 · Indian · Early Medieval

Known for: First mathematician to treat zero as a number and define rules for its arithmetic

Brahmagupta was head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain and the first mathematician to give rules for arithmetic with zero and negative numbers. His Brahmasphutasiddhanta was translated into Arabic and influenced Al-Khwarizmi.

He defined zero, gave rules for negative numbers, solved quadratic equations, and made significant contributions to astronomy. He also said zero divided by zero equals zero—he was wrong about that one.

What Brahmagupta would be watching

The “if they lived today” Q&A on this page gives Brahmagupta The Zero Theorem (2013) as a favourite film. Their reason: “Everything divided by nothing.” Rankquant scores it above 40% of films, drawn from 157 IMDb reviewers individually re-centred rather than averaged raw. The full film & TV rankings are built the same way.

Browse all 1,000 figures by category

Enable JavaScript to view the full "if they lived today" Q&A and personality profile.