Very little is known about Śrīdhara's life beyond mentions of his mathematical work by later mathematicians and the content of his extant treatises, which do not contain biographical details such as his parents, teachers, or birthplace.
[2] Based on example problems in his works mentioning Shiva, and a dedication in Pāṭīgaṇita-sāra, he was probably a Shaivite Hindu.
The first, Pāṭīgaṇita, also called Bṛhat-Pāṭi ("Bigger Pāṭi") and Navaśatī ("Having 900"), extensively covered the practical mathematics of the time including arithmetic and mensuration (the part of geometry concerned with calculating sizes, lengths, areas, and volumes).
[1] It is believed to have originally included 900 stanzas, but only 251 are extant, and many topics mentioned in the table of contents have been lost.
The second, Pāṭīgaṇita-sāra, also called Triśatikā ("Having 300") because it was written in three hundred verses, is an abridged summary of Pāṭīgaṇita.