Math: Old Babylonian Math

Mathematics was one of the few subjects written on clay tablets when writing first came about. Text D is an example of an advanced mathematical texts. Texts of such nature tend to “lack archeological context”, but it is generally acknowledged that the text comes from around Mesopotamian area. Additionally, this piece was written during the Old Babylonian time period. As an advanced mathematical text, Text D follows the traditional way of mathematics done by the people of the era, including the type of problem, the usage of the base 60 number system, and the methodology used to solve the initial problem. The text follows the traditional way that most mathematical problems were solved during the time. In this situation, there is a rectangle

The text highlights the complexity of their math, showing that the Babylonians were significantly advanced in the field. Furthermore, the methods they used to solve mathematics, although different from today’s algebra, are still used in certain proofs. For example, the most common proof used to prove the Pythagorean Theorem uses the Babylonian methods of geometric algebra. Text D shows how advanced the Old Babylonian society really was. Having the ability to solve for the dimensions given a diagonal and the area is complicated, and the method to solve for these dimensions uses the Pythagorean Theorem. Text D is just a microcosm of how far the Pythagorean Theorem was taken by the Babylonians. They not only used the theorem in advanced problems, but also began the basis for number theory by discovering a large set of Pythagorean triples. In today’s view, the text shows the mathematical world that there are different ways to tackle the same problem. Text D shows today’s world another way to approach mathematics, and it shows the level of advancement in mathematics that the Babylonians had even before the Greco-Roman

They used traditional, Babylonian steps, numbers, and methods to solve for the dimensions of a rectangle, given an area and the length of a diagonal. The text highlights the Babylonians’ ability to use geometric algebra, as they used shapes in the step-by-step directions to solve the problem, and they solve the whole problem in the base 60 number system. Additionally, the Babylonians showed a strong understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem through its application in Text D, when the solution is achieved by using the given value for the diagonal. Text D is a telling example of an advanced mathematical text from Old Babylon given that the text shows signs of math of the era with the writing style and geometric algebra techniques, and it shows people of today the level of complexity involved in Old Babylonian mathematical