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NEMICANDRA'S RULE FOR FINDING THE VOLUME OF
A RIGHT CIRCULAR CYLINDER
DIPAK JADHAV This paper deals with the rule (v. 17) from the Trilokasära. B.B. Dutta inferred the general formula from the rule for finding the volume of a prism while it is given particularly for finding the volume of a right circular cylinder.
1. Introduction
As is well-known, Nemicandra (c. 981 A.D.) was an eminent scholar of Jaina scriptures. He composed a famous work on cosmography in Prakrit, called the Trilokasāral which we shall abbreviate as TLS.
The importance of the TLS in the history of Indian Mathematics can never be overlooked. The work contains a description of significant subjects such as the various kinds of measurements, methods of reckoning, theory of numbers, laws of logarithms, various types of sequences, mensuration formulae and so forth.
In this paper we shall discuss a rule from the TLS, which prescribes the formula for finding the volume of a right circular cylinder.
2. Nemicandra's Rule
For finding out the capacity (volume) of a pit (kunda) which is a
d
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Figure 1: A right circular cylinder with diameter 'd' and height 'h'
Trilokasāra, ed. with Madhavacandra Traividya's commentary and with Āryikā Visuddhamati's Hindi commentary by R.C. Jain Mukhtara and C.P. Patni, Sri Mahaviraji (Raj.). VNY 2501 (- 1975 A.D.).
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