Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c6.s7.6

c6.s7.6

From the table of the technical terms supplied, one can easily see that the following terms of the *Śulbasūtras* were used almost in the same sense in the later mathematical works viz. *caturasra*, *karṇa*, *karaṇī*, *kṣetra*, *vṛtta*, *parināha*, *rekhā*, *viṣama-caturasra*, *viṣkambha*, *vyāsa*, etc. Āryabhaṭa I (c. 476 A. D. ), used the terms *citighana*, *vargacitighana* and *ghanacitighana* for sum of triangular numbers, the sum of the squares of the natural numbers and the sum of the cubes of the natural numbers respectively. *Citi* means a pile or altar ( of bricks ) and *ghana* means cubic contents. These terms may be explained only if we assume that Āryabhaṭa I studied these series in relation to construction of altars. And this is not improbable, since we have shown that the mathematics first developed in India in connection with the construction of Vedic altars.