History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c8.s13.80

v1.c8.s13.80

**Barter and Exchange.** The Hindu name for barter is *bhāṇḍa-prati-bhāṇḍa* ("commodity for commodity"). All the Hindu works on *pāṭīgaṇita* contain problems relating to the exchange of commodities. It is pointed out in these works that problems on barter are cases of compound proportion, and can be solved by the Rule of Five, etc. A typical problem on barter is the following: