Sulba Sutras: diagonal theorem and square root of 2
Sulba Sutras: teorema de la diagonal y raíz de 2
- Date
- c. 800-500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Ganges plain, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Credited to
- Baudhayana, Apastamba and Katyayana
- People
- 👤 Āpastamba700 BCE–700 BCE👤 Katyayana
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Manuals for building brick Vedic altars that state, in general terms, the relationship between the sides and diagonal of a rectangle, give Pythagorean triples and approximate √2 as 1 + 1/3 + 1/(3·4) − 1/(3·4·34) ≈ 1.4142157. They also describe how to convert a square into a circle of approximately equal area.
The dating is highly uncertain. The statement predates the one attributed to Pythagoras (c. 530 BCE), but triples were already known in Babylon (Plimpton 322), and the Sulba Sutras give no proof.
What it led to
- practical geometry applied to ritual construction
- Indian tradition of numerical approximations
- basis of the geometry of the siddhantas
Built on
- Vedic brick altars