Hi there,
If you
would ask me to vote for the most horrifying part of mathematics in
school, I wouldn't bat an eyelid before screaming : Square-root ! A
common Maths joke is illustrated below:
For
me, and for countless other school-children, determination of Square
Root of a given number (running into numerous digits) would always prove
an arduous task. Thank God we are allowed to use Calculators in
colleges!
The standard method taught was that of the long division, shown below:
But
did you know that the method to determine a Square root was devised by
Aryabhatta, as early as 475 AD? Though the knowledge of Square roots
existed in India from the BC ages, proof of the method is given in
Aryabhatta's celebrated work, Aryabhatiyam. The relevant Sloka is given
below:
Translated into English, it says:
Divide the Non-square place by twice the Square Root of the Square place, then subtract the Square from the next Square place.
Thus,
a definitive method of finding the Square root was expounded by the
great Indian mathematician and astronomer, Aryabhatta.
Till next time,
Shoumik Das
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