Take it to the limit one more time – a history of calculus VI

Once again this will be a post outside of the mainstream of the historical evolution of calculus. It is also another example of an independent parallel discovery in the history of mathematics, this time in medieval India. More specifically the so-called Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, a group of connected scholars active between the fourteenth and the early seventeenth centuries, who made contributions to the field of infinite series. Kerala is a comparatively small state consisting primarily of strip of coastal plains on the south-west tip of the Indian sub-continent. The official languages as Malayalam and English. The area had long been engaged in the spice trade, a fact that attracted Portuguese traders in the fifteenth century, initiating European colonisation of India. Map of India and Kerala State. Source: Maps of India (http://www.mapsofindia.com) The Kerala school was founded by Mādhava Sangamagrāma (Mādhavan)[4] (c. 1340 – c. 1425). As is all too often the case…