Analysis of Babylonian Mathematics
As students, we are taught the basics about mathematics. What the core properties of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division mean. How they work, and if we are lucky, we go into a little history of these methods. For those of us who have learned history, we learned that the basis for modern mathematics came from the Greeks and their writings. While this is correct, to truly understand the historical aspect of mathematics and its origins, one must study a time before the Greeks, when math was a whole new language, and one we still today have not completely mastered.
Perhaps the most interesting group to study is one of the first known civilizations, the Babylonians from Mesopotamia; the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraq. The Mesopotamian people are considered the founders of the first sophisticated, urban cities, and the founders of writing and keeping records. It was then that the idea of writing evolved as a means to record the most essentials of founding a city, mathematics. As a people who flourished from the land, it has been determined that the main uses for a mathematical language were utilitarian. It is believed that agriculture was invented in Mesopotamia, as the land between the rivers provided for much fertile ground (5). Because of this, research has found that the Babylonians made a number system to represent livestock, produce, and their basic way of life. According to Elanor Robson, they used “…small clay ‘tokens’ or counters’, made into various geometric...shapes” (2) . For them, each counter had both a qualitative and a quantitative meaning. So, there was actually not a one-to-one correspondence and this leads to the belief that the earliest mathematics by the Babylonians must not have been for counting and solving purposes, but instead for accounting and manufacturing purposes (2).
From what we have discovered today, the Babylonians transcribed their work on many tablets written in what is today called
Perhaps the most interesting group to study is one of the first known civilizations, the Babylonians from Mesopotamia; the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraq. The Mesopotamian people are considered the founders of the first sophisticated, urban cities, and the founders of writing and keeping records. It was then that the idea of writing evolved as a means to record the most essentials of founding a city, mathematics. As a people who flourished from the land, it has been determined that the main uses for a mathematical language were utilitarian. It is believed that agriculture was invented in Mesopotamia, as the land between the rivers provided for much fertile ground (5). Because of this, research has found that the Babylonians made a number system to represent livestock, produce, and their basic way of life. According to Elanor Robson, they used “…small clay ‘tokens’ or counters’, made into various geometric...shapes” (2) . For them, each counter had both a qualitative and a quantitative meaning. So, there was actually not a one-to-one correspondence and this leads to the belief that the earliest mathematics by the Babylonians must not have been for counting and solving purposes, but instead for accounting and manufacturing purposes (2).
From what we have discovered today, the Babylonians transcribed their work on many tablets written in what is today called
References: 1. William P. Berlinghoff and Fernando Q. Gonve, Math through the Ages, Expanded edition, MAA, Washington DC, 2004. 2. Elanor Robson. "Mesopotamian Mathematics: Some Historical Background." Oracc.meseum.org. University of Pennsylvania, n.d. Web. 3. Laura Smoller. "The Amazing History of Pi." Ualr.edu College of Information Science and Systems Engineering. Ualr.edu, Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Jan. 2013. 4. J Steuber. "History of Bases Used in Ancient Civilizations." Math.drexel.edu. Drexel.edu, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. 5. Jeff Suzuki, Mathematics in Historical Context, MAA, Washington DC, 2009. 6. "Mesopotamian Mathematics." Answers.com. Answers, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.