Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Since the Vedas are religious texts produced by poets, we cannot expect in them enough information for systematically describing the mathematical knowledge of those times. We can only gather scattered terms for whole numbers, for basic fractions, and for simple geometric figures. The ṛ gveda contains a number of numerical expressions. The Vedic poets were particularly fond of three and seven as holy numbers, and often used their multiples such as 3 × 7, 33 (= 3 × 11), 3 × 50, 3 × 60, 3 × 70, 3 × 7 × 70, and 333 (= 3 × 111). It has been argued that the number of gods, 3339, mentioned in ṛ gveda 3.3.9, is the sum of three numbers, namely, 33, 303, and 3003. Although it has not been proved that the Vedic Indians had a place-value notation of numbers, this summation itself must have not been difficult for them since their numeration system was basically decimal. They used the words eka, daśa, śata, sahasra , and ayuta , for 1, 10, 10, 10, and 10. For multiples of 10 3 and of 10 they often used expressions based respectively on 10 and on 10 as well; for example, 2 × 10 = 20 ( víṃśati ) × 10 ( Śata ), 3 × 10 = 30 ( triṃśat ) × 10 ( sahasra ), etc. The words for “hundred” and “thousand” are sometimes employed in the sense of “a number of.” Thus, Indra is said to have destroyed a hundred old fortresses of Śambara and slain a hundred thousand ( śata ṃ sahasra ṃ) brave men of ... log in or subscribe to read full text