Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c5.s9.19

c5.s9.19

In the 4th century A. D. Theon Alexandria, explained Ptolemy's method of extracting square roots and found the square-root of 4500 degrees to be 67º 4' 55" in sexagesimal unit. This method of extraction was purely geometrical and depended on Euclidean concept.³ In another place he explained 144 = 10² + 2.10.2 + 2² = (10 + 2)² with the help of a diagram. This figure is two-dimensional and no attempt was made to construct a three dimensional figure in order to extend the square-root method to find the cube-root. In the sixteenth century A. D. both square-root and cube-root methods were given by Cataneo, which are exactly the same as those of Āryabhaṭa I¹. Hence it is quite likely that the Indian methods of square-root and cube-root went to Europe through Arab intermediaries.