Indian Mathematics c5.19

c5.19

7. THE CIRCLE.—According to the altar building ritual of the period it was, under certain circumstances, necessary to square the circle, and consequently we have recorded in the *Śulvasūtras* attempts at the solution of this problem, and its connection with altar ritual reminds us of the celebrated DELIAN problem. The solutions offered are very crude although in one case there is pretence of accuracy. Denoting by a the side of the square and by d the diameter of the circle whose area is supposed to be a² the rules given may be expressed by