The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c21.s1.8

c21.s1.8

It is much noteworthy that the authors of the *Sulba* did not restrict themselves to the use of unit fractions only, as is known to have been the case with the early Egyptian, Babylonian, and Chinese mathematicians.¹ In the *Śulba*, the unit fraction has not, indeed, any special significance attached to it. We find in them the frequent use of the general fraction. Their mode of expressing it is exactly the same as that of later Hindu writers. Thus 3/8 is called *tri-aṣṭama* ("three-eighths"), 2/7 *dvi-saptama* ("two-sevenths").² Kātyāyana mentions 14 3/7 prakramas as *caturdaśa prakramān trīṁśca prakrama-saptabhāgān* (or "14 prakramas and three of the seventh parts of a prakrama").³ 3/4 is sometimes called *catur-bhāgona* ("less one-fourth"),⁴ that is, 1 - 1/4.