Madhava of Sangamagrama , was an
Indian mathematician-
astronomer from the town of
Sangamagrama (believed to be present-day Aloor,
Irinjalakuda near
Thrissur),
Kerala, India. He is considered the founder of the
Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. He was the first to use
infinite series approximations for a range of trigonometric functions, which has been called the "decisive step onward from the finite procedures of ancient mathematics to treat their
limit-passage to
infinity". One of the greatest mathematician-astronomers of the
Middle Ages, Madhava made pioneering contributions to the study of infinite series,
calculus,
trigonometry,
geometry, and
algebra.