Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India c6.2

c6.2

The mathematical genius of the ancient Indians was mainly computational and led to spectacular achievements in arithmetic and algebra. But the basis and inspiration for the whole of Indian mathematics is geometry. The beginnings of algebra are to be traced to the constructional geometry of the Vedic priests preserved in the *Śulbasūtras*. In later periods also algebra must have leaned on geometry. For, down the ages, Indian mathematicians have shown a predilection for demonstrating algebraical truths geometrically (see Ch. IX). So too the arithmetical operations, multiplication and division were demonstrated geometrically. Trigonometry is, as its name proclaims, the geometry of the triangle. Indian trigonometry which employed sine and cosine chords instead of the ratios has always retained its geometrical character. The study of the Theory of Numbers was really the study of the right triangle and rational rectilinear figures.