गणितसारसंग्रह (महावीराचार्य - प्रो. लक्ष्मीचन्द्र जैन सविस्तार हिन्दी अनुवाद सटीक)

INTRODUCTION
BY
DAVID EUGENE SMITH
PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN TEACHERS' COLLEGE,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK.
We have so long been accustomed to think of Pāṭaliputra on
the Ganges and of Ujjain over towards the Western Coast of India
as the ancient habitats of Hindu mathematics, that we experience
a kind of surprise at the idea that other centres equally important
existed among the multitude of cities of that great empire. In the
same way we have known for a century, chiefly through the labours
of such scholars as Colebrooke and Taylor, the works of Āryabhaṭa,
Brahmagupta, and Bhāskara, and have come to feel that to these
men alone are due the noteworthy contributions to be found in
native Hindu mathematics. Of course a little reflection shows this
conclusion to be an incorrect one. Other great schools, particularly of
astronomy, did exist, and other scholars taught and wrote and added
their quota, small or large, to make up the sum total. It has, however,
been a little discouraging that native scholars under the English
supremacy have done so little to bring to light the ancient mathe-
matical material known to exist and to make it known to the Western
world. This neglect has not certainly been owing to the absence of
material, for Sanskrit mathematical manuscripts are known, as are
also Persian, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese; and many of these are
well worth translating from the historical standpoint. It has rather
been owing to the fact that it is hard to find a man with the requisite
scholarship, who can afford to give his time to what is necessarily
a labour of love.
It is a pleasure to know that such a man has at last appeared
and that, thanks to his profound scholarship and great perseverance,