The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c14.51

c14.51

Thibaut says: "The authors of the sūtras do not give us any hint as to the way in which they found their proposition regarding the diagonal of a square; but we suppose that they, too, were observant of the fact that the square of the diagonal is divided by its own diagonals into four triangles, one of which is equal to half the first square [Fig. 63]. This is at the same time an immediately convincing proof of the Pythagorean proposition as far as squares or equilateral rectangular triangles are concerned."⁴