About Us

Where does the name Pingala come from?

Pingala was an ancient Indian scholar, primarily known for his work on the "Chandaḥśāstra," a treatise on prosody written around 300 BCE. This text is notable for its mathematical analysis of Sanskrit poetry, introducing the concept of binary numbers long before they were recognised in the West. Pingala's work used a system of long and short syllables, which he referred to as "guru" and "laghu" respectively, to describe the meters of Sanskrit poetry. These syllable patterns are considered an early form of binary numbers, laying the groundwork for what would eventually become a fundamental aspect of computer science.

In addition to binary numbers, Pingala's "Chandaḥśāstra" includes the first known description of the Fibonacci sequence and combinatorial methods that resemble those used in modern algorithms. Although not much is known about his life, Pingala's contributions have had a lasting impact on mathematics and the understanding of binary systems.