The Shulbasutras of Baudhayana, Apastamba, Katyayana and Manava: With Text, English Translation and Commentary c8.t2.166

c8.t2.166

A small cuneiform tablet (Yale Babylonian collection No. 7289) of the old Babylonian times (c. 1800—1600 B.C.) shows a square with its two diagonals, with three numbers in sexagesimal system inscribed on it. These three numbers are interpreted by Neugebauera as the value of the diagonal, a side and the value of √2 (since d = √2 a). Here √2 is given as 1, 24, 51, 10, which in terms of decimals comes out to be 1.41421,291......, a little more accurate than the Indian value. The Indian value is smaller while the Babylonian value larger than the actual value. Moreover, their first fractional terms are different. The suggestion that the Indian value might have been obtained from a Babylonian source is groundless. As regards Greekb sources, many approximations to the value of √2 are known, but not a value of this order of accuracy.