The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c20.s2.9

c20.s2.9

The two stripes which are cut off from two sides of the square, let us say the east side and the south side, intersect or overlap each other in the south-east corner and the consequence is, that from the small square in that corner not 2/34 are cut off, but only 2/34 - 1/(34 × 34). Thence the error in the determination of the value of the saviśeṣa. When the side of a square was reduced from 17 to 16 33/34 the area of the square of that reduced side was not 288, but 288 + 1/(34 × 34). Or putting it in a different way: taking 12 for the side of a square, dividing each of the 12 parts into 34 parts (altogether 408) and dividing the square into the corresponding small squares, we get 408 × 408 = 166464. This doubled is 332928. Then taking the saviśeṣha-value of 16 33/34 for the diagonal and dividing the square of the diagonal into the small squares just described, we get 577 × 577 = 332929 such small squares. The difference is slight enough.