Lengths, Widths, Surfaces A Portrait of Old Babylonian Algebra and Its Kin |
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| Author:
| Høyrup, Jens |
| Series title: | Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences |
| ISBN: | 978-0-387-95303-8 |
| Publication Date: | Jan 2002 |
| Publisher: | Springer
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | AUD $375.95 |
Book Description:
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It has been known since the 1920s that Babylonian cunieform tablets included many mathematical texts, some concerned with metrology and computation, other with more sophisticated problems, some of the second, some of the third degree. As the terminology was interpreted from the numbers involved, circular reasoning led to a reading of the texts as number algebra and of the solutions as purely numerical algorithms.In this new examination of the texts, Jens Hoyrup proposes a different...
More DescriptionIt has been known since the 1920s that Babylonian cunieform tablets included many mathematical texts, some concerned with metrology and computation, other with more sophisticated problems, some of the second, some of the third degree. As the terminology was interpreted from the numbers involved, circular reasoning led to a reading of the texts as number algebra and of the solutions as purely numerical algorithms.In this new examination of the texts, Jens Hoyrup proposes a different interpretation, based on a detailed investigation of the terminology and discursive organization of the texts. The texts turn out to speak not of pure numbers, but of the dimensions and areas of rectangles and other measurable geometrical magnitudes, often serving as representatives of other magnitudes (prices, workdays, etc...), much as pure numbers represent concrete magnitudes in modern applied algebra. Moreover, the geometrical procedures are seen to be reasoned to the same extent as the solutions of modern equation algebra, though not built on any explicit deductive structure.