2021/03/31 by Pouvreau, David
#FOS: Mathematics #History and Overview (math.HO)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2104.00522
This paper expounds very innovative results achieved between the mid-14th century and the beginning of the 16th century by Indian astronomers belonging to the so-called "Mādhava school". These results were in keeping with researches in trigonometry: they concern the calculation of the eight of the circumference of a circle. They not only expose an analog of the series expansion of arctan(1) usually known as the "Leibniz series", but also other analogs of series expansions, the convergence of which is much faster. These series expansions are derived from evaluations of the rests of the partial sums of the primordial series, by means of some convergents of generalized continued fractions. A justification of these results in modern terms is provided, which aims at restoring their full mathematical interest.