[Larry381]

2+2=222

[a fool in paradise]

All we can know is what we don’t know.

The Library at Alexandria was wiped out. How much ancient knowledge was destroyed?

[Fiddlstix]

Bookmark

[Rembrandt]

Al Sharpton’s family is from Babylonia, donchaknow. They invented jet engines, airplanes, the alphabet, chemistry and lots of other stuff. They were gazillionaires but the white man took it all away!

[Publius]

The sexagesimal system never made much sense for people who had five fingers on each hand. But if the Sumerians were taught math by ET visitors who had six fingers on each hand...

[Enchante]

Dr. Mansfield sets the Gaydar to 11....

[Mr. Dough]

I want to come back and read through this when I am not completely burnt out.

[KarlInOhio]

Link to the original paper: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0315086017300691

[mrsmith]

IMO it was recreated by the Greeks.

This is an interesting view:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-25/babylonian-tablet-unlocks-simpler-trigonometry-mathematics/8841368
“ “This gives us a different way of looking at trigonometry. One that’s really just passed on ratios. And the beautiful thing about it is that it’s much simpler,” Dr Mansfield told AM.
“It only involves ratios, you don’t need to study trigonometry through angles: sin, cosx, tan and irrational numbers. You can do it with just ratios.” “

[exDemMom]

Babylonian mathematics used a base 60, or sexagesimal system, rather than the 10 which is used today. Because 60 is far easier to divide by three, experts studying the tablet, found that the calculations are far more accurate.

This makes no logical sense. Calculations of what are more accurate? And as long as one is using integers, there is always a point at which dividing by three leads to an indefinable number, no matter what the starting number is. Now, if one chooses to use other types of numbers--for instance, fractions--many more opportunities for accurate calculations come up. And a whole lot of messiness can be avoided by using pi in one's calculations.

[Nifster]

Wait what? You mean mussies didn't invent it? Oh noes! 😱😱😱😱😱

[JDoutrider]

4Ltr

[Vesparado]

Just think about it. If some Babylonian butterfingers hadn't dropped the tablet and broken off some of the columns they might be ruling us to this day! As it turned out, their ziggurats, built with inferior math as they were, all seem to have faded away ... 🤓

[bboop]

NOPE, base 10 it is for me. Ten fingers. This sounds like hogwash.

[dr_lew]

Saw this ... looked into it. Did the arithmetic on the first entry, which seems to verify that it is trigonometric in nature ... unless the relations among the 3 numbers of the first line are insanely coincidental!

Naturally the news wants to hype this up. It’s incredible enough to me that the Babylonians could do ( albeit simple ) trigonmetric calcuations to this degree of precision.

I think “precision” is the watchword. That seemed to be their obsession. ( One I share! )

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

It’s Greek to me!

[Brooklyn Attitude]

Whether or not the base 60 system is superior this shows the Greeks did not steal trig from the Babylonians or their system would also be base 60.

[minnesota_bound]

They were this smart 3,700 years ago yet....
I bet the politicians of the time stopped progress for their selfish reasons just like today.

Imagine what could have been. Travel to the stars for your vacation. Electric cars powered by unicorns....

[GOPJ]

Base 60 is so weird...

[sphinx]

Because 60 is far easier to divide by three, experts studying the tablet, found that the calculations are far more accurate.

And 49 is far easier to divide by seven. So what?