Question

Varahamihira was born in which A.D. ?
A) 395
B) 499
C) 487
D) 467

Answer 1

Hint:
Varahamihira was an Indian astrologer. He has done work on mathematical astronomy which summarised earlier astronomical treatises. He also has discovered a version of Pascal's triangle and even worked on magic squares.

Complete step by step solution:
The knowledge of Varahamihira is still very limited. According to one of his works we can say that he was educated in Kapitthaka. We do not know whether he was born in Kapitthaka, but we have given this as a guess. Varahamihira was born in 499 A.D. He may have worked at Ujjain which was an important centre for mathematics since around 400 AD. At that time, the school of mathematics at Ujjain was very important due to Varahamihira. He was a leading mathematician for a long period there.
His most famous work is the Pancasiddhantika i.e. the Five Astronomical Canons dated 575 AD. This work is giving us information about older Indian texts which are now lost. This work was a treatise on mathematical astronomy and it summarises five earlier astronomical treatises. One other treatise which he summarises was the Romika-Siddhanta, based on the epicycle theory of the motions of the Sun and the Moon. His other works are also based on the Greek epicycle theory of the motions of the heavenly bodies. The Panchasiddhantika contains many examples of the use of a place-value number system. Varahamihira made some important mathematical discoveries.

Therefore the correct option is B.

Note:
Hayashi examines Varahamihira's work done on magic squares. He examines a pan diagonal magic square of order four which occurs in Varahamihira's work.