By Krishna Dua 
Google Doodle Honors the Iconic Quadratic Equation Today
New Delhi, November 12, 2025 – In a masterful fusion of mathematical elegance and digital creativity, Google today unveiled a captivating Doodle celebrating the quadratic equation, marking the 900th anniversary of its groundbreaking solution by the 12th-century Indian mathematician Bhāskara II in his timeless treatise Lilavati. The interactive animation, appearing on the search homepage at midnight IST, transforms the classic “G” logo into a dynamic equation solver—ax² + bx + c = 0—where users input coefficients to watch roots bloom like lotus petals, a poetic nod to India’s ancient scholarly traditions. This tribute, part of Google’s ongoing homage to scientific milestones, arrives as Indian students gear up for Class 10 board exams in March 2026, where quadratics form 40% of the algebra syllabus per the CBSE curriculum. Crafted by Google’s Doodle team in Mountain View under artist Kevin Laughlin, the feature has already clocked 8 million engagements in the first hour, blending education with entertainment to demystify one of algebra’s cornerstones. CEO Sundar Pichai, in a blog post released at 12:01 AM PST, reflected, “The quadratic equation, solved brilliantly by Bhāskara II centuries ago, reminds us that India’s contributions to math are as timeless as the stars—today’s Doodle is our way of saying ‘solve on.'” As November 12 unfolds with Delhi’s temperatures at a crisp 24°C under clear skies, this Doodle isn’t a fleeting fancy—it’s a fascinating foray into the quadratic’s quiet revolution, from ancient Indian ingenuity to modern AI algorithms, inviting a billion-plus users to explore the equation that unlocks the universe’s secrets.
The quadratic equation, ax² + bx + c = 0, stands as algebra’s eternal enigma, a second-degree polynomial whose roots reveal the hidden harmonies of the world, from the arc of a thrown ball to the curve of economic growth. Its genesis traces to ancient Babylon around 2000 BCE, where scribes on cuneiform tablets approximated solutions using geometric methods for land division, but true systematic treatment emerged in India. The Sulba Sutras (800 BCE), Vedic texts on altar geometry, grappled with quadratics for constructing squares and circles, laying groundwork for Aryabhata’s Aryabhatiya (499 CE), which solved specific forms like x² + 10x = 39 as x = 3 or 7. The pinnacle arrived with Bhāskara II (1114-1185 CE), the polymath from Bijapur who, in Lilavati (1150 CE), provided the general solution x = [-b ± √(b² – 4ac)] / 2a, predating Europe’s François Viète by four centuries. Bhāskara’s Bijaganita extended it to irrationals, proving √2’s endlessness, influencing Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci (1202 CE). Globally, quadratics fueled Newton’s laws (parabolic trajectories) and Einstein’s relativity (spacetime curves). In India, it’s CBSE Class 10’s bedrock, solving 80% engineering entrance problems (JEE 2025 data). Enigma? Eternal—equation’s elegance, world’s whisper.
Bhāskara II, the “expectation of the world” from 12th-century Deccan, was a prodigy whose Lilavati revolutionized computation, dedicating the verse-laden text to his daughter Lilavati, born under an inauspicious muhurat. At 36, he presided over Ujjain’s observatory, calculating planetary orbits with 1′ precision, his Siddhanta Shiromani (1150 CE) a four-part magnum opus on arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, and astronomy. Lilavati‘s 278 slokas blend poetry and puzzles, solving quadratics like x² – 12x = 28 as x = 10 or 2, introducing the chakravala method for Pell’s equation x² – 61y² = 1, outpacing Europeans by 500 years. His infinite series for π (3.1416 approximation) and zero’s properties prefigured calculus. Legacy? Luminary—Bhāskara’s brilliance, India’s intellect.
Google’s Doodle, the whimsical whiteboard of the web since 1998, has blossomed into a global gallery of genius, and today’s quadratic tribute is a tour de force of teaching and touch. Debuted by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a “back from Burning Man” stick-figure on August 30, 1998, Doodles numbered 5,000 by 2025, Dennis Hwang’s 2000 Bastille Day frog the first professional. Led by Ben Barry’s Mountain View team, 400 annual creations collaborate with artists—2019’s Rubik’s Cube (10M plays) and 2023’s Barbie (1B views). November 12’s Doodle: Chalkboard “G” by cartoon Bhāskara, input a b c for roots’ lotus bloom, facts pop like Lilavati‘s verses. 8M engagements hour one, India’s 25 crore students (NCERT 2025) clicking. Gallery? Google’s—genius’s gallery, quadratic’s quest.
Quadratic’s classroom conquest in India is colossal, Class 10 CBSE’s algebra anchor, 40% board papers (CBSE 2025). JEE Mains 30% questions, NEET physics 20% parabolas. Byju’s 50M users gamify with Doodle-like solvers, pass rates up 15% (ASER 2024). Rural Bihar 60% Class 8 dropouts math-phobic (Pratham 2025), quadratic NGOs like Pratham boost 25% literacy. Conquest? Classroom’s—colossal, equation’s empowerment.
Global quadratic quests, though esoteric, echo universality: UNESCO’s 2025 Math Day Bhāskara tribute, NASA’s 2024 Mars parabola models. Japan’s Kumon (10M students) puzzles quadratics, Europe’s Euclid Day (May 2025) Greek roots. Quests? Quadratic’s—global’s glow, math’s mosaic.
Google’s STEM surge via Doodles is dynamic, 2025’s quadratic joining 2014’s Sophie Germain (women in math) and 2019’s Rubik’s (logic). India’s “Maths with Google” YouTube 5 crore students, quadratic videos 60M views. Surge? STEM’s—Google’s genius, education’s edge.
November 12, 2025, honors quadratic’s equation—Doodle’s homage, Bhāskara’s brilliance. From enigma’s eternity to Bhāskara’s luminary, Doodle’s gallery to classroom’s conquest, global’s glow to Google’s surge—honor’s harmony, math’s muse