'Baudhayana framed right-angled triangle theorem'

Ancient Indian mathematician Baudhayana was the first person to formulate a theorem on right-angled triangles that in its modern form came to be associated with Greek mathematician Pythagoras, a newly released Class 8 mathematics textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training says.

- Sanjay Maurya

The textbook uses examples from Indian monuments and cultural contexts to explain key concepts of the subject, including Baudhayana’s theorem on right-angled triangles. The modern form of this theorem states that if a triangle has side lengths a, b, and c, with c as the hypotenuse, then the relationship a² + b²= c² holds true.

“Baudhayana was the first person in history to state this theorem in the general Pythagorean and essentially modern form. The theorem is also known as Pythagorean Theorem, after the Greek philosopher-mathematician Pythagoras (c. 500 BCE) who also admired and studied this theorem, and lived a couple hundred years after Baudhayana. It is also often called the transitional name ‘Baudhayana-Pythagoras Theorem’ so that everyone knows what theorem is being referred to,” the book says.