This article originally appeared on 07.10.21
Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!
Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles’ sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.
Mansfield and his team are, understandably, incredibly proud. What they discovered is that the tablet is actually an ancient trigonometry table.
u201cAussie mathematician cracks code of famous 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet https://t.co/f7h6oIfBDru201d— China Xinhua News (@China Xinhua News)
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Mansfield said:
“The huge mystery, until now, was its purpose – why the ancient scribes carried out the complex task of generating and sorting the numbers on the tablet. Our research reveals that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right-angle triangles using a novel kind of trigonometry based on ratios, not angles and circles. It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius.”
“The tablet not only contains the world’s oldest trigonometric table; it is also the only completely accurate trigonometric table, because of the very different Babylonian approach to arithmetic and geometry. This means it has great relevance for our modern world. Babylonian mathematics may have been out of fashion for more than 3,000 years, but it has possible practical applications in surveying, computer graphics and education. This is a rare example of the ancient world teaching us something new.”
The tablet predates Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who has long been regarded as the father of trigonometry. Mansfield’s colleague, Norman Widberger, added:
“Plimpton 322 predates Hipparchus by more than 1,000 years. It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education. With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trigonometry that has clear advantages over our own.”
“A treasure trove of Babylonian tablets exists, but only a fraction of them have been studied yet. The mathematical world is only waking up to the fact that this ancient but very sophisticated mathematical culture has much to teach us.”
People were understandably excited by the news.
u201cA 3,700 year olf Babylonian tablet revealed as the world’s first trigonometry table https://t.co/AQlpsndM92u201d— The Conversation (@The Conversation)
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Some mathematicians actually think studying the Babylonians back then could help us improve the way we do trigonometry today.
Babylonian tablet Plimpton 322 will make studying maths easier, mathematician says http://ab.co/2vuEzuLu00a0 | @abcnewspic.twitter.com/U10wQ7ZA42— ABC Australia (@ABC Australia)
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“With Plimpton 322 we see a simpler, more accurate trig. (with) clear advantages over our own.”n@n_wildberger: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/24/mathematical-secrets-of-ancient-tablet-unlocked-after-nearly-a-century-of-studyu00a0u2026n#TOK— Roo Stenning (@Roo Stenning)
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Of course, there were the haters…
Find someone who loves you as much as this guy dislikes a hypothesis about Babylonian math: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/ancient-babylonian-tablet-may-contain-first-evidence-trigonometryu00a0u2026pic.twitter.com/c5yO8LmjhE— Miles Brundage (@Miles Brundage)
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But all in all, Twitter users were pretty impressed with the Babylonians’ skills.
And they figured it out 3,700 years ahead of me…and counting.— Marty (@Marty)
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And we’re over here trying to figure out how to do trig with our TI-83s… man I love it when the ancients show what real intelligence is.— Kenny Hayse (@Kenny Hayse)
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Congratulations to Dr. Mansfield and his team on their incredible discovery… and for making trigonometry exciting!