The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c20.s2.6

c20.s2.6

"How far the Sūtrakāras went in their experiments we are of course unable to say; the list up to twenty suffices for our purposes. Three cases occur in which the number expressing the square of the diagonal of a square differs only by one from a square number; 8—9; 50—49; 288—289; the last case being most favourable, as it involves the largest numbers. The diagonal of a square the side of which was equal to twelve, was very little shorter than seventeen (√289=17). Would it then not be possible to reduce 17 in such a way as to render the square of the reduced number equal or almost equal to 288?