Australian mathematician discovers applied geometry engraved on 3,700-year-old tablet

By Dilip -

Old Babylonian tablet likely used for surveying uses Pythagorean triples at least 1,000 years before Pythagoras    An Australian mathematician has discovered what may be the oldest known example of applied geometry, on a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet. Known as Si.427, the tablet bears a field plan measuring the boundaries of some land. The tablet dates from the Old Babylonian period between 1900 and 1600 BCE and was discovered in the late 19th century in what is now Iraq. It had been housed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum before Dr Daniel Mansfield from the University of New South Wales tracked it down.

17,300-year-old Kimberley kangaroo recognised as Australia's oldest rock artwork

Mansfield and Norman Wildberger, an associate professor at UNSW, had previously identified another Babylonian tablet as containing the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table. At the time, they speculated the tablet was likely to have had some practical use, possibly in surveying or construction….

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/05/australian-mathematician-discovers-applied-geometry-engraved-on-3700-year-old-tablet

More history-related posts

Archaeological 'treasures,' including 2,400-year-old fruit, discovered at ancient Egyptian city

Unraveling the mysteries of ancient Egypt's spellbinding mummy portraits

MATTHEW ROZSA: This 45,500-year-old cave painting of a pig may be the oldest known work of art

Jack Guy: Spectacular eight-mile frieze of Ice Age beasts found in Amazon rainforest


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