Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c12.8

c12.8

The claim for Bhaskara is, however, limited to the historically imperfect form of the calculus. Bhaskara does not specifically state that the method of the calculus is only approximative. But it must be remembered that the conception of limit and the computation of errors came late in the history of the calculi of fluxions and infinitesimals. For the rest, Bhaskara introduces his computation expressly as a “correction” of Brahmagupta’s rough simplification.⁵⁹