Book:Anonymous/Bakhshali Manuscript
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Anonymous: Bakhshali Manuscript
Published $\text {$1$st millennium}$
An ancient Indian mathematical text written on birch bark.
Found in $1881$ in the village of Bakhshali, District Mardan near Peshawar in present-day Pakistan.
It is perhaps the oldest extant manuscript in Indian mathematics.
History
It is written in Sanskrit with significant influence of local dialects.
For some portions a carbon-date was proposed of between $224$ and $383$.
For other portions, a recent study has determined a carbon-date of as late as $885$ to $993$.
However, this has been challenged by specialists on methodological grounds.
Contents
The earliest known Indian use of a zero symbol.
Sources
- 1992: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Puzzles ... (previous) ... (next): Indian Puzzles
- 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $3$: Notations and Numbers: Indian number symbols