Posted on 01/28/2016 2:56:35 PM PST by BenLurkin
Mathieu Ossendrijver of Humboldt University in Berlin found the tablet while combing through the collections at the British Museum. The written record gives instructions for estimating the area under a curve by finding the area of trapezoids drawn underneath. Using those calculations, the tablet shows how to find the distance Jupiter has traveled in a given interval of time. Until now, this kind of use of trapezoids wasn't known to exist before the 14th century.
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By 400 B.C. Babylonian astronomers had worked out a coordinate system using the ecliptic, the region of the sky the sun and planets move through, Ossendrijver says. They even invented the use of degrees as 360 fractions of a circle based on their sexagesimal, or base 60, counting system. What wasn't clear was whether the Babylonians had a concept of objects in abstract mathematical space.
The trapezoid method involves learning the rate at which Jupiter moves and then plotting the planet's speed against a set number of days on an x-y graph. The result should be a curve on the graph. Figuring out the area of trapezoids under this curve gives a reasonable approximation of how many degrees the planet has moved in a given period.
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Babylonian tablets that hinted at this ability had been found before...
In his own forays into the British Museum, Ossendrijver wasn't looking for evidence of new mathematics, just for interesting astronomical tablets. Some, he says, have been sitting in the museum for decades waiting for translation.
Ultimately he found three more with evidence for trapezoid-based calculations, including the one that clearly shows the mathematical feat of applying the technique to observations of Jupiter. All five tablets are described in Ossendrijver's study, appearing this week in Science.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
ping
One of Kepler’s laws - a planet in an elliptical orbit sweeps out equal areas in equal time.
Of course, these secrets of the Babylonians were not known, they did not have the internet and weren’t on Facebook.
The Kings from the East. Babylonians ((Iraqis) were well known for their investigative and scientific abilities until Islam came along and crushed them.
What? I thought the Muslims taught everyone algebra, geometry, calculus, and physics?!? I am not sure I believe this... /s
I can understand arriving at a base 10 system. But base 60?
Base 12 wasn’t it?
Isn’t that why eggs are sold by the dozen?
Base 12 wasn’t it?
Base 12 might make a bit more sense as there are 12 lunar cycles per year.
Thanks, I just sent this to a couple of relatives who will appreciate it.
Muslims have taken credit for a LOT of achievements which they wrenched from the slowly dying Hellenic world which they had killed
There are very few “Islamic contributions” to science (or anything else of value) for the last 500 years or so. Maybe longer.
Buncha psycho babble!
Exactly! Stolen from the Hellenic world (including India)
Thanks BenLurkin.
Of course, when their cultures went kablooey, those old cuneiform tablets stuck around to a degree, and 4000 years later we we wondering what they meant. 4000 years from now when EMP or stupidity erases it all, whoever is looking back is going to have to get all their information about us from our trash!
Thanks BenLurkin.The Sumerians and Egyptians used geometry in some sense in order to equitably distribute irrigation.
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Equally amazing is how Dr. Ossendrijver was able to figure all of this out from that cuneiform tablet.
I guess the law should have been named after some babylonian guy instead of kepler!
They stole 0 from India and how many achievements were done by Christians and Jews that they took credit for.
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