Katz, Victor J.;
A history of mathematics: an introduction
Addison-Wesley, 1998, 879 pages
ISBN 0321016181, 9780321016188
topics: | mathematics | history
Mathematical myth: According to a story which appears in the work of a Persian commentator, astrologers predicted that the daughter lIlAvatI of the Indian mathematician bhAskara (1114-1185) would not wed. But her father, being an expert astronomer and astrologer himself, divined the one lucky moment for her marriage. The time was kept by a water clock, but shortly before the exact hour, while Lilaavati was looking into the clock, a pearl from her headdress accidentally dropped into the clock unnoticed and stopped the flow of water. By the time it was discovered, the designated moment had passed. To console his daughter, Bhaskara named the chapter on arithmetic of his major work, the SiddhAntashiromaNi, after her. p. 192