Diffusion des mathématiques, Histoire des mathématiques
On the construction of the Śrī Yantra
Comptes Rendus. Mathématique, Tome 359 (2021) no. 4, pp. 377-397.

Le śrīyantra (ou śrīcakra) est un diagramme sacré dans les traditions hindoues tantriques. Il a fait l’objet de nombreuses études dans différentes disciplines. En mathématiques, sa construction pose un problème élémentaire et non trivial. Dans cette note, on fournit une méthode de construction à la règle et au compas. La question est équivalente à celle d’un problème d’Apollonius qui consiste à trouver un cercle tangent à un cercle donné, à une droite donnée et passant par un point donné.

The Śrī Yantra (or Śrī Cakra) is a sacred diagram of Tantric Hinduism. Its study stimulated a vast effort of specialists from different fields. In mathematics, its construction sets an elementary and nontrivial problem. In this note, we work out a straightedge and compass method for constructing concurrent models of Śrī Yantras. The question is equivalent to the circle-line-point problem of Apollonious.

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DOI : 10.5802/crmath.163
Chiodo, Alessandro 1

1 Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu — Paris Rive Gauche, Sorbonne Université, UMR 7586 C.N.R.S., 4 Pl. Jussieu,75252 Paris cedex, France
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Chiodo, Alessandro. On the construction of the Śrī Yantra. Comptes Rendus. Mathématique, Tome 359 (2021) no. 4, pp. 377-397. doi : 10.5802/crmath.163. http://www.numdam.org/articles/10.5802/crmath.163/

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