Heron s formula biography of mahatma

The word ‘mathematics’ was coined by Pythagoras, who flourished around bc. It meant ‘a subject of instruction,’ and its first part, ‘math,’ comes from an old Indo-European root that is related to the English word ‘mind.’ The Pythagoreans grouped arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music together and for several centuries mathematics referred to only these four subjects. However, as we proceed it will become clear that the study of arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry began long before Pythagoras. In fact, a fair majority of the biggest breakthroughs in mathematics were made possible through the work of people other than those who have been credited in the history books.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, USA

   Ravi P. Agarwal

2. GVP-Prof. V. Lakshmikantham Institute for Adv

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   Hero of Alexandria  was a Greco-Egyptian mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He is often considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition.

   Hero published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile sometimes called a "Hero engine". Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land. He is said to have been a follower of the atomists. In his work Mechanics, he described the pantographs. Some of his ideas were derived from the works of Ctesibius.

   In mathematics he is mostly remembered for Heron's formula, a way to calculate the area of a triangle using only the lengths of its sides.

   Much of Hero's original writings and designs have been lost, but some of his works were preserved—mostly in manuscripts from the Eastern Roman Empire, and a smaller part in Latin