The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c20.s2.10

c20.s2.10

"The relation of 16 33/34 to 12 was finally generalised into the rule: increase a measure by its third, this third by its own fourth less the thirty-fourth part of this fourth (16 33/34 = 12 + 12/3 + 12/(3 × 4) - 12/(3 × 4 × 34)). The example of the saviśeṣa given by commentators is indeed 16 33/34 : 12; the case recommended itself by being the first in which the third part of a number and the fourth part of the third part were both whole numbers."