Babylonian math tablet displays Pythagorean geometry thousands of years before the Greek Pythagoras (c. 1800 BCE) One of the oldest mathematical diagrams ever found, representing the earliest use of the Pythagoras Theorem. Originating from the eighteenth century BC city of Larsa in southern Iraq, the tablet is part of an ancient mathematical textbook that includes a problem involving the construction of an equilateral triangle. It displays several geometry problems that concern shapes drawn inside a square of 60 rods (about 360 meters) on a four by four grid of smaller squares. They are organised in increasing order of complexity, without solutions or numerical answers, giving the clear impression of a teaching aid or text book. Each of the illustrated problems (which remain in whole or in part) consist of a description of the figures in the accompanying diagrams along with the question, What are their areas? Students are believed to have solved individual problems on small hand-tablets. The combination of text and diagrams has allowed researchers to restore most of the missing figures and obliterated technical terms. The tablet has achieved great notoriety amongst mathematicians and remains controversial because it provides hard evidence that the ancient Mesopotamians were much more advanced than previously believed, using Pythagorean Math thousands of years before the birth of Pythagoras.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 18:50:11 +0000
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