The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c22.48

c22.48

*Fundamental Operations.*—Addition is called *samāsa* (‘putting together’’) and the sum obtained *samasta* (‘whole,’’ ‘‘total’’).⁵ Subtraction is called *nirhāra* (‘deduction’’) and the remainder *śeṣa*.⁶ Division is *bhāga*, *vibhāga*. One term deserves special notice : it is *abhyāsa*. This word, formed from *abhi* and *āsa*, means radically ‘‘repetition,’’ ‘‘reduplication.’’ It then came to denote, in its various declinations, the operation of addition⁷ as well as of multiplication.⁸ Whence it seems that the early Hindus recognised multiplication to be a kind of addition.