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| image from google |
Plimpton 332, a 3,700 years-old tablet has let the world know that the Babylonians in 1,500 years ago developed trigonometry far before the Greeks. And they were beign using a Mathematics method or Mathematics formula which today`s way of calculation could be changed with.
This simple tablet was discovered in early 19s in Southern Iraq by the American archaeologist and diplomat Edgar Banks, an inspiration for Indiana Jones.
It meaning, the world`s most accurate and oldest trigonometric table, has distorbed experts until when the new research at the University of New South Wales, Ausralia, shows the world. This 3,700-years-old tablet was probably used by the ancient architects to build palaces, construct templates and canals.
On the other hand, today`s trigonometry use base 10, unlike the Babylonian Mathematics which base on sexagesimal system or base 60, the experts studying the tablet, found that with the system calculation will be far more accurate than today`s base 10 system, all because 60 is far easier to divide by three.
From the researchers:
“It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius. The tablet not only contains the world’s oldest trigonometric table; it is also the only completely accurate trigonometric table, because of the very different Babylonian approach to arithmetic and geometry.
“This is a rare example of the ancient world teaching us something new.”
The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who lived around 120BC, has long been regarded as the father of trigonometry, with his ‘table of chords’ on a circle considered the oldest trigonometric table.
A trigonometric table allows a user to determine two unknown ratios of a right-angled triangle using just one known ratio. But the tablet is far older than Hipparchus, demonstrating that the Babylonians were already well advanced in complex mathematics far earlier.
Babylon, which was in modern day Iraq, was once one of the most advanced cultures in the world
The tablet, which is thought to have come from the ancient Sumerian city of Larsa, has been dated to between 1822 and 1762 BC. It is now in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University in New York.
“Plimpton 322 predates Hipparchus by more than 1000 years,” says Dr Wildberger.
“It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education. With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trigonometry that has clear advantages over our own.
“A treasure-trove of Babylonian tablets exists, but only a fraction of them have been studied yet. The mathematical world is only waking up to the fact that this ancient but very sophisticated mathematical culture has much to teach us.”
The 15 rows on the tablet describe a sequence of 15 right-angle triangles, which are steadily decreasing in inclination.
The left-hand edge of the tablet is broken but the researchers believe t there were originally six columns and that the tablet was meant to be completed with 38 rows.
“Plimpton 322 was a powerful tool that could have been used for surveying fields or making architectural calculations to build palaces, temples or step pyramids,” added Dr Mansfield.
The new study is published in Historia Mathematica, the official journal of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics.
