182 HlNDU AND ARA lllA N M A'l H EMA ncs

The elder A ryabhata flou rished i n the sixth cen t u ry and was born near
presen l-d ay Patna on the Ga nges . lle wrote a work on a'ltronomy of which
the thrrd clw pter i s dcvotcJ tu math ematics. There is umc wnf u.,i()n be-
tween the two Aryabha lus, a n d it may be th at thei r work i s not corrLl t ly
d i t k renti atcd. Br 1h111agu pta was the most prom i n en t 1 Ii nd u ma l h l 111a t ic.:i;i n
of t he seven t h cent u ry. He l ived and worked i n t h e ast ru nom ica l L.e n ter of
Ujja i n , i n cen t ra l I nd ia . In 628, he w.1 oh.: h i s 1Jr u/11 na-.1Jh11W - 1[(/J '/w11ta
( "the rev ised systi;m of 13rah m a" ) , :-i n ;_1 lro n o1111 Gtl work of 2 1 Ll1;1 ptus of
w h ich Chapte r s 12 am.I 18 dea l w i t h m a llH.:ma t i c. M a h avlra , w ho ll ou ri >licd
1bout 8'."i O, w;1s from sou th ern l n c.l i a , a n d wro t e on cll:111c11 ta ry 111<1 t li c1J 1at ic
Bh iisk <1ra's work, Sid J hi111 ta S iro11w 11i ( "Ji 1 t.lc111 of a n a!i l ro11on11cal ..,yc.; te rn") ,
was w ri t te n i n 1 l 50 and sh ows l i t t l e a Jva n ccrncn t over th e worv uf JJ ra h-
m a t,u pta of m ore th a n 500 yea rs ea rl i er. The i m por ta n t rn a t h crna t iL.il pc.i ris
of Bh;Jsk:::n;1's work J re t h e Li lii 1 ati ( "th e bea u t i f u l ") a n d Vi1aga 111ta ( " ccJ
1

::i r i t h m et i c") ,:! which respective l y d eal wi t h ari t h m etic. and a l gebra. T he
111,llhc m::i ti ca l p::i r ts of B r::i h m agu pt a's in d 13h aska ra 's wu1 k s wc.: rc t ra n sl:1 tcd
i n t o En gl ish i n 1 8 17 by H . T. Col cbrook c. The S /ir ya S iddhiinta w<.1<; t r ;ins-
l a tcd by E. B u rgess i n 1860, a n J Ma h avira's work was pu bl1-. hcd 111 1912
by M. Ra ng[Lcarya .
H i nd u m :-i t hema tics a f t er U h asbr:i act u u ll y re t rograded u n til modern
ti mes. I n 1 907, th e I nd i a n Ma t h ema t ica l Society was fou n ded , a nd two
yea rs l a t er the J ournal of the Indian M athe111atical Society sta rtcJ i n Mad ras.
The l ml i a n stat i st ics jo u rn a l , Sa 11k l1yi"i , bega n p u bl ica tion i n 1933 .
Pe rh aps the most spect <lc u l <1 r In d i an m a t hem at i ci an of modern times
was th e impoveri shed clerk an d u n tr ai n ed gen i us Srin i vasa Ra man u j an
1887- 1920 ) , wh o possessed a ma zi ng abil ity to see qu ick ly and deeply in to
i n t rica te n u m ber relation s. He was "discovered" i n 1913 by t he emi nen t
Bri t ish n u mber th eorist , G. H. Ha rdy (1877-1947 ) , whose elTorts brou ght
Ra m a nu ja n in th e followi n g yea r to Engla nd to st udy at Cam bridge U ni-
versi ty. Then; resu l t ed a most remarkable math em a tica l association bct\\<een
the two men .
Texts on the history of ma them atics show some con trndictions and
confusion wh en deal ing wi th the H11u.l us. Th is is proba bl y due. m no small
m easure, to the ob:icu rc and at times n c;.i rly u nin tcll1g1blc wri tmg of the
H i n du au th ors. The h i tory of l l imlu m..i t hcmu t1cs still await'i a more re-
lia bl e and schol<t rl y 1rca t1m:n t.

7-2 NUMBER COM l'lJTING

l n Section 1-9 we con::-. idcrcd briefly t he l i t tle tha t is known conce rning
;
th e part pl ayed by the H i nd us i n th e <lcvclnpmcn t of our pre cnt posi tional
nu meral system . We h a ll now gi ve sonll .1Lc0tm t of H rnd u methods of

l 2 It is not certain that the Liliivati and Vijagamta are parts of the S1ddlza11ta
Siruman i; they may be separate worl-s.
 INDIA 183

computing with th is system . The key to an understanding of the algorithms

th at were el abora ted lies i n a realization of th e writ ing materials which
were at the disposal of the cal cula tors. Accord ing to the German historian
H . Hankel, they generally wrote either upon a small blackboard with a cane
pen d i pped in a t h i n wh ite pa i n t which could easily be rubbed off, or, w1th
a stick, upon a whi te tablet less than a foot square and coated wi th a
sprinklin g of red flour . In either case th e writing space was sm all and
legibil i ty dem and ed fa i rly large figures, but erasures and corrections were
very easily eff ec ted. Th e calculation processes accordin gly were schem ed to
conserve the writin g space by erasing a digi t as soon as it had served its
pu rpose.
Early Hind u addition was perhaps done from lef t to right, instea d of
from right to lef t as we prefer to do it today. As an example consider the
addition of 345 and 488 . These would probably be written , one under the
other , a little below th e top of the compu ti ng tablet, as sh own in
8 3 the accompanying illu stra tion . The computer would say 3 4 +
µ 'j!, 3 = 7, and write the 7 at the head of the lef t colum n. Next, 4 8 +
= 12 , which ch anges the 7 to an 8 followe d by a 2 . The 7 i s ac-
3 4 5 cordingly rubbed off and 82 writ ten down . In our ill u stration
4 8 8 we h ave, i nstead , crossed out the 7 and written the 8 above i t .
Th en 5 + 8 = 13, which changes the 2 to a 3 followed by another
3 . Aga i n thin gs are correc t ed w ith a quick ru b of the finger, and the final
a n sw er 833 appears a t t he top of the tablet. Now t he 345 an d 488 can be
ru bbed off , and we h ave th e res t of th e tablet clear for furth er work.
I n an u nd ated com men t ary of Bh askara's Lil avari we find an oth er
m ethod, by wh i ch th e addi ti on of 345 and 488 would be eff ected by the fol-
lowi n g p rocess :

sum of uni ts 5 + =
8 13
sum of tens 4 + 8 = 12·
sum of hu ndreds 3 + 4 =7·.
sum of sums = 833
Severa l met h od s were u sed for m ulti p l i cat i on . The wrjtt en work for
the si m pl e m u l t i pl i ca ti on of , say , 569 by 5, m ight appear as follows, again
worki ng from lef t to r i ght. On t he t a bl et , a littl e below
the top, wri t e down 569 followed , on t h e sa me l in e, by 8 4
the m ultipli er 5. Then , since 5 X 5 = 25, 25 i s wr i t ten
2 5
above the 569 as sh own in the accom pan y i ng i llu st ra- i 0
tion . Next, 5 X 6 = 30, w h ich ch an ges the 5 in 25 to 5 6 9 5
an 8 followed by a 0. A quick erasu re fixes th i s. Agai n,
in the illustration we h ave, in stead, crossed out th e 5 and written the 8 above
it. Then 5 X 9 = 45 , which changes the 0 to a 4 followed by a 5. The fin al
product, 2845, now appears at the top of the compu ting t ablet.
A more complicated multiplication , like 135 X 12 say, might be ac-
 "i ; :,.· _. ... ,iti'iWJ.. an, .e

184 HINDU AND ARABIAN MATHEMATICS

complished by first finding, as above, 135 X 4 = 540, then 540 X 3 == 1620,

or by adding 135 X 10 == 1350 and 135 X 2 = 270 to get
1620. Or again, according to Hankel, it might be accomplished 6 2
as follows. A little below the top of the tablet write the mul- i
tiplican d 135 and the multi pl ier 12 so that the un its digit in
the multi plicand falls ben eath the extreme lef t digit i n th e 0
multiplier. Now 135 X 1 = 135, which is written at the top of 1 2
the ta blet. Next, by erasing, sh if t the mul ti plicand J 35 one
place to the ri ght and mul tiply by the 2 of the 12. In doing t $ i
this we find 2 X 1 = 2, which changes the 3 i n our partial 1 3 5
prod uct to a 5. Then 2 X 3 =6, which ch anges the two S's i n
our new partial prod uct to 61. Fin ally, 2 X 5 =
10, which ch an ges the final
1 in our pa r tial product to 2 followed by a 0. The finished prod uct, 1620,
now appears at the top of th e tablet.
Another method of multi plicatio n , k nown to the Ara bi ans and prob-
ably obtained from the Hind u s, which closely resembles our present proces s,
is ind icated in the accom pa n yi n g illustration , where we again fi n d the
prod uct of 135 by 12. The lattice diagra m is actu ally drawn and the add i ti ons
perfor med diagon ally. Note, because of the way each cel l is divid ed i n two
by a d i agonal , no carrying over is required i n the mu l tiplication.

multi plicand
3 5

/1 /11 .....
-

'3
2 6

6 2 0
prod u ct

The Arabians, who l a ter bor rowed some of t he Hind u processes , were
u n able to improve on them and accord in gl y adapted them to "paper'' work ,
where erasu res were not easi l y effected , by crossing off u ndesired digi ts and
writing the new ones above or below the old ones, as we have done in the
illustrations above .
The development of algorith ms for our elementary arithm etic opera tions
started in India , perhaps about the tenth or eleventh cent ury, were adopted
by the Arabi ans, and l ater carried to wes tern Eu rope, where they were
modified i n to their present forms. This work received considerable attention
from the fif teenth-century European writers on arithmetic.
 I NDIA 185

7-3 ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA

The Hindus were gi fted arith meticians and made significan t contri bu tions to
algebra .
Many of the arith meticn l problem s were solved by fa lse position . An-
other favorite method of solu tion was that of inversion, where one works
backward from a given piece of information. Consider, for example, the
following problem given d uri ng the six th cen t ury by the elder A ryabhata :
"Beau tiful maiden with beaming eyes, tell me, as thou u n derstan d st the
right method of inver sion, which is the nu mber which multiplied by 3, th en
increased by 3/ 4 of the product , then divided by 7, d i m in i shed by 1/ 3 of
the quotient , multiplied by itself , diminished by 52, by the ex traction of
the square root , addition of 8, and division by 10 gives the n u mber 2?"
By the method of inversion we start with the number 2 and work back ward .
Thus [( 2 ) (10 ) - 8F +
52 =
196, 0% =
14, (14 ) ( 3/2 ) ( 7 ) (4/ 7 ) /3
= 2 8, the answer. Note th at where the problem instructed us to divide by 10
we m ul tiply by 10, where we were told to add 8 we su btract 8, wh ere we
were told to extract a squ are root we take the square, an d so forth. It i s tl1e
repl acemen t of each operation by i ts inverse that accounts for tl1e n ame
inversion. It is, of course, ju st wh at we would do if we were to sol ve the
problem by modern methods. Thus, if we let x represent the sough t n u m ber,
we have

J l( )\ ) (3x ) r-52 + 8 = 2.
10
To solve t hi s we multiply both sides by 10, then subtract 8 from each side,
then square both sides, and so forth. This problem a1so ill u st ra tes the Hi n d u
practi ce of cloth in g a ri th metical problems in poetic gmb. This was beca use
school tex t s were wri tten i n verse, and because the problems 'vvere freq u en tl y
used for social am u sem ent.
The H i nd us su m med a ri t h m e t i c a nd geo m et ri c progr essions a nd solved
com merci al probl e ms i n si m pl e and compou nd i n terest, disco u n t, an d part-
ner sh ip. They also sol ved mixture a nd cistern probl em s, s i mi l a r to t hose found
in mod ern tex ts. Severn) speci me ns of H i nd u a r i th met ical problems m ay be
fou nd in Problem Stud ies 7-1, 7-2, and 7-3 .
M uch of ou r k nowl edge of H i nd u a ri th metic stern s f rom Bh aska ra 's
Lilarnti. A roma n tic story i s told a bou t t h is work. According to the tale,
the stars foretold d i re misfort un e i f Bh askara's on ly daugh ter Lilavati should
m arry other than at a certain hour on a certai n propitious day. On that
day, as the anxious bride was watching the sinking water level of the hour
186 HIND U AND ARA DIAN MA'f HEMA TICS

cup, a pearl fell unk nowingly from her headdress and, stopping the hole in
the cup, arrested the outflow of water, and so the lucky moment passed un-
noticed . To console the unh appy girl , Bhaskara gave her name to his book.
The Hindus syncopated their algebra . Like Diophantus, addi tion was
usually indicated by ju x taposition . Subtract ion was indicated by placmg
a dot over the subtrahend , m ultiplication by wri ting bha ( the first syllable
of the word bha vita, "the product") af ter the factors, division by writing
the divisor beneath the d ividen d , squ are root by writin g ka ( from the word
karana, "i r r a tion al") before th e q uan ti ty. Bra h m agu pta indicated the u n-
known by y a ( from y av at tiivat, "so much as") . K n own integers were pre-
fi xed by n ( f rom r fipa, "the absolu te n u m ber ") . Ad d i tion al u n k nowns
were ind i cated by the ini t i al syllables of words for d ifferent colors. Thus,
a second unk now n m ight be denoted by ka (from k alaka, "bl ack") , and
8xy + Vf6 - 7 might appear as
ya ka 8 bha ka 10 ru 7.
The H i n d us ad m itted negative and i rr ation a l n u m bers, an d recogn ized
that a q u ad ra t ic ( havi n g rea l answers ) h as two formal roots. Th ey u n i fi ed
the a l gebra ic sol u tion of q u < i d ra t i c eq ua ti ons by the fa m i l i a r m ethod of com-
pleti n g the sq u are. This method is tod ay of ten refer red to as the H indu
method . Bhaska ra gave the two rem arkabl e iden ti ties

\) a -+- Vb == \f (a + v 2 _:_- b)/ 2 -+- \./ ( a - V a'2 - b)/ 2 ,

wh ich are someti mes employed i n our algebra texts for fin d ing the squ are root
of a bi nom ial surd . These iden ti ties are also found in Book X of Euclid's
Elements, bu t are there given in an i nvolved langu age which is di fficu l t to
comprehend.
The Hind us showed rema rkable ability in indetermin ate analysis and
were perhap s the first to devise general methods i n this br anch of math e-
matics . Unl ike Diopha n tu s, who sough t any one rational solu tion to an
indeterm inate equation, the Hind us endeavored to find all p ossible integral
solution s. Arya bha ta an d Bra hmagu pta fou n d the in tegral solu tion s of the
l inear in determ i n ate equa ti on ax +
by == c, where a , b, c are integers. The
indetermina te qu adrat ic equa tion xy == ax by + +
c was solved by a method
later reinvented by Euler. The work of Bra h m::igu pta an d Bh askara on the so-
called Pell equation , y 2 = ax2 +
1, where a is a non squarc integer , is
highly regarded by some. They showed how , from one solu tion x, y , xy =-/= 0,
infinitely m any others could be found . The com plete theory of the Pell
equation was finally worked out by Lagr ange in 1766-1769. The Hindu work
on indeterminate equations reached western Europe too late to exert any
benefici al influence.
 INDIA 187

7-4 G EOMETR Y AN D TRIGONOMETRY

The Hindus were not profici ent in geomet ry. Rigid demonstrations were
unusual and po t ul ational developments were nonexi stent. Their geometry
was largely empirical and generally connected with mensuration.
The ancient S ulvasutras show that the early Hindus applied geometry
to the construction of alt;:i.rs and in doing so ma de use of the Pyth agorean
relation. The r ules furnish instru ctions for find ing a square equal to the sum
or difference of two given squares and of a square equal to a given rectan gle.
There also appear solu tions of the circle-squaring problem which are equiva-
ler.t to taking d·= (2 + y12) s/ 3 and s = 13d/ 15, where d is the di ameter
of the circle and s the side of the equal square. Th ere also appears the ex-
pression

_ f,=) _ 1 + 1 + 1
- 1
V L 3 (3)(4) (3)(4)(34)'
wh ich is interesti ng in that all the fractions are uni t fractions and that the
expression is correct to five decim al pl aces.
Both Brah magupta and Mah avira n ot only gave Heron 's formul a for
the area of a trian gle i n ter ms of the three sides but also the remarka ble
extension,3
K = [(s - a)( s - b)( s - c)(s - d)]1 12,
for the area of a cycl ic quad ri l a teral havi ng sides a, h, c, d and semi peri meter
s. 1t seems th at later com m en ta tors failed to realize the lim itation on the
qu adri l a teral. The form u la for the general case is

K'2 = (s - a)(s - b)(s - c)(s - d) - abed cos

A + c)
( 7
,

whe re A a n d C are a pai r of opposi te vertex an gles of the qu adril a teral.

Most rem arkc1blc in H i n du geometry, an d solit ary in i t excell enc , ri re
Bra h magupta 's theorem s t h a t th e d i agon a l s m and n of :.i cycl i c quadril ateral
h aving consecu tive sides a, b, c, d are given by
o)
( ab + cd)(a c + bd)
n1 - = --------
ad + be
(ac -1- bd)( nd + be)
n2 =
ab + cd

3 For a derivation of this formul a see, for example, E. W. Hobson, A Treatise on

P lane Trigonometry, 4th ed., p . 204, or R . A . Joh n son , !v!od em Geometry, P· 81.
I