Talk:Baudhayana

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The rope which is stretched along the length of the diagonal of a rectangle produces an area which the vertical and horizontal sides make together.

Perhaps someone could clarify how this is a statement of the Pythagorean Theorem? --Twinxor 03:40, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Pythagorean theorem, according to the link states: The sum of the areas of the squares on the legs of a right triangle is equal to the area of the square on the hypotenuse.

The sulbasutras make exactly the same statement. A rope producing an area implies the square of the length of the rope. Area produced by a rectangle's diagonal = area produced by vertical side + area produced by horizontal side. This says, square of diagonal = square of vertical + square of horizontal. --Pranathi 05:14, 7 May 2005 (UTC)


It may be noted that most of the Iyers follow apsatambha not baudhyana but gurukkals,namboodiris follow them.

[edit] Error in the Pythagorean theorem

The version brought here to the Pythagorean Theorem is too general: "A rope stretched along the length of the diagonal produces an area which the vertical and horizontal sides make together."

The above sentence is true for right triangles and not for any triangle. For example, in an equilateral triangle whose sides are s1 = s2 = s3 = s then s^2 + s^2 = 2s^2 != s^2 (for s different from 0, as should be with triangles).

If you consider the vertical and horizontal not to be the sides of the triangle then the sentence is true but for a different triangle from the one we started with.

By the way, I once heard that Baudhayana proved the sentence in a diagram. Does someone know whether that is true? Does someone know whether Baudhayana gave any proof to the sentence?

Besides, how come that a mathematical sentence appears in religious text?

Pythagorean theorem is a proof about right triangles. Mrdthree 09:38, 13 October 2006 (UTC)
That is the point. The Pythagorean theorem is correct for right triangles but not in general. As I wrote above, The Pythagorean theorem formula is not correct for equilateral triangle. The sentence written at the article doesn't mention that the triangle should be a right one and therefore it is wrong. It is possible that the original sentence did mention that the triangle should be a right one but that is only a guess. Maybe the problem is in the translation since the English version doesn't even mention triangles.
By the way, do you happen to know whether Baudhayana supplied a proof to the theorem?

The proof is referring to a diagonal, which means they are bisecting a square (or rectangle) into two right Triangles. The statement is correct. Paladinwannabe2 17:55, 26 December 2006 (UTC)