Boudhayana was a mathematician who lived around 800 BCE. He is the author of Baudhayana Sulbasutra which was more like a pocket dictionary, full of formulae and results for quick references. He is credited with calculating pi, and the square root of 2.
The most creditable achievement is that Baudhayana introduced the “Pythagoras theorem” 1000 years before Pythagoras had developed it!
In Baudhayana Sulbasutra, there are several mathematical formulae or results that told how to precisely construct an altar. He was a man of very considerable learning and probably wrote the Sulbasutra to provide rules for religious rites.
The mathematics given in the Sulbasutras enables the accurate construction of altars needed for sacrifices. It is clear from the writing that Baudhayana, as well as being a Vedic priest, must have been a skilled craftsman. He was skilled in the practical use of the mathematics and construction of sacrificial altars of the highest quality.
-Dr Shobha Tawde
ScienceNow
