Story
Pingala studied the metres of Sanskrit poetry in his Chandaḥśāstra. To list every possible pattern of long and short syllables, he developed methods that anticipate binary numbers and combinatorics.
Key contributions
- Represented metres with two kinds of syllables — an early binary system
- Gave rules for counting combinations, linked to the triangle later called Meru Prastara (Pascal's triangle)
- His work led later Indian scholars to the Fibonacci-like 'Matra-meru' sequence