History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c8.s8.7

v1.c8.s8.7

The word *karaṇî* is found to have been used in the *Sulba* works and Prâkṛta literature as a term for the square-root. In geometry it means a "side." In later times the term is, however, reserved for a surd, *i.e.*, a square-root which cannot be evaluated, but which may be represented by a line.