Architecture & Engineering
Geometry for altar construction (Sulba Sutras)
c. 800-500 BCEBaudhayana, Apastamba, KatyayanaSulba SutrasPan-Indian / unspecified
800 BCE
Practical geometry for building fire-altars, including the 'Pythagorean' relation and area transformations.
- Dated
- 800–500 BCE
- As scholars put it
- c. 800-500 BCE
- Originator
- Baudhayana, Apastamba, Katyayana
- Source text
- Sulba Sutras
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Architecture & Engineering
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Verified-web
Meanwhile in the West
The right-triangle theorem is named for Pythagoras (later, Greece).
Fair to say
The Sulba Sutras state and use the relation but do not give a formal proof as later Greek geometry did.
Path to modern innovation
Applied geometry and construction mathematics.
800 BCEGeometry for altar construction (Sulba Sutras)
800 BCETransmission
Independent statement of the relation before Pythagoras.
References
- 1Baudhayana Sulba Sutra
- 2Plofker (2009)
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-060 on GitHub.