Someone was paying attention to their math teacher in ancient Babylon.
By Eric Mack
So centuries before the ancient Greeks built their most famous monuments and before scholars like Pythagoras dropped scientific knowledge that I used to build a gloriously straight and square outhouse last summer (my weird pandemic project), it turns out the ancient Babylonians already had dialed up some of that know-how.
“It is generally accepted that trigonometry was developed by the ancient Greeks studying the night sky in the second century BCE,” Mansfield says. “But the Babylonians developed their own alternative ‘proto-trigonometry’ to solve problems related to measuring the ground, not the sky.”
UNSW Sydney
Interestingly, Si.427 wasn’t a new find. It was actually on display at a museum in Istanbul. Mansfield learned of its existence from reading excavation records of an expedition that took place in 1894 in modern day Iraq.
“It was a real challenge to trace the tablet from these records and physically find it,” he said. “The report said that the tablet had gone to the Imperial Museum of Constantinople, a place that obviously doesn’t exist anymore.”
Once Mansfield tracked the object down, it took months to decipher its significance, which is laid out in full detail in a study published Wednesday in the journal Foundations of Science.
There is one mystery that remains with the ancient document: The number 25:29 is written in Old Babylonian base 60 on the back.
“I can’t figure out what these numbers mean,” Mansfield said. “It’s an absolute enigma. I’m keen to discuss any leads with historians or mathematicians who might have a hunch as to what these numbers trying to tell us.”
