[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932) › c22.48 # The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c22.48 The Science of the Śulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c22.48 - **Language:** English ### [c22.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.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. - [Previous: c22.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c22.47) - [Next: c22.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c22.49) - [Up: c22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c22) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c22.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c22.48) · Pramāṇa