BABYLONION CILIVIZATION

Babylonian Mathematics
Historical Facts about the
Babylonians


Babylonian refers to the
ancient peoples who lived
in the area between the
Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.
Civilization developed
about the same time as in
ancient Egypt -- between
3500 and 3000 B.C.
This area was referred to
as Mesopotamia by the
Greeks and currently
occupied primarily by Iraq
and Syria.
Knowledge of the
civilization there is still
growing from the
deciphering and
documentation of
archaeological artifacts

Babylonians Math
Babylonians used clay tablets
to do math in them. The clay
tablets included fractions,
algebra, quadratic and cubic
equations.
Also the Babylonian tablet
gives an aproximation to the
square root of 2 to 6 decimal
places.
The Babylonian mathematical
system was sexagesimal.
Babylonian mathematicians also
developed algebraic methods of
solving equations.
The Babylonians also used
geometry and trigonomaetry.
Here is one of their tablets

use of a stylus on a clay medium
that led to the use of cuneiform
symbols since curved lines could
not be drawn.
The later Babylonians adopted the
same style of cuneiform writing
on clay tablets.
Many of the tablets concern topics
which, although not containing
deep mathematics, or example we
mentioned above the irrigation
systems of the early civilisations
in Mesopotamia.

Babylonian Mathematics
-Fraction-
Babylonian using a sexagesimal numeral
system(base 60).

Generally the only fractions permitted
were such as

, , ,





Irregular fractions such , , etc were
not normally not used.
There are some tablets that remark, 7
does not divide or 11 does not divideetc.

2 30 16 3,45
3 20 18 3,20
4 15 20 3
5 12 24 2,30
6 10 25 2,25
8 7,30 27 2,13,20
9 6,40 30 2
10 6 32 1,52,30
12 5 36 1,40
15 4 40 1,30
Table of a products equal to
sixty
EXAMPLE
= 30 =

= 7,30 = +
SQUARE
ROOT
Babylonion Square Root
Also called Herons method.

Involve dividing and averaging
method.

Simple method and give accurate
answer.
Involve 4 steps:
Find Square Root of Q
1. Make a guess (X)
2. Divide original number(Q) with your guess(X).
Q/X = S
3. Find average of these number.
(X + S)/2
4. Use this average as your new guess, X.

Repeat from step 2 THREE times to get accurate
value.


Example:

Find square root of 10.
Let Q=10

First Process
1. X=3
2. Q/X = 10/3 = 3.333333333 S
3. (X + S)/2 = (3+3.333333333)/2
= 3.1666666667

4. new guess, X

Second Process

1. X = 3.166666667

2. Q/X = 10/3.166666667
= 3.157894737 S

3. (X + S)/2 = (3.166666667 + 3.157894737)/2
= 3.162280702

4. New guess, X
Third Process

1. X = 3.162280702

2. Q/X = 10/ 3.162280702
= 3.162274619 S

3. (X + S)/2= (3.162280702 + 3.162274619)/2
= 3.16227766

Lets check using calculator,
Square root of 10 is equal to 3.16227766

Linear
System
Linear System
What is linear system?
The same set of variables
Linear System
Set A
Set B
1800
500
2
1
3
2
= +
=
E A
E A
1
1 3 2
2
= + +
= +
Z Y X
Y X
1
2
3
4
Linear System
SET A
From
900

1800

2


=
= = +
=
A
A E A
E A
Let
Equation 2
Linear System
Now, make a new model

d E E
d A A
=
+ =

ii)

i)
Then, substitute model i) and ii) into equation
1
( ) ( ) 500

2
1

3
2
=
|
.
|

\
|
+ d E d A
Linear System
500

6
1
6
7
500

2
1

3
2
6
7
500

2
1

3
2
6
7
500
2
1

2
1
3
2

3
2
= +
=
= +
= + +
A d
A A d
E A d
d E d A
A E

replace =
Linear System
900

= A
300
350
6
7
=
=
d
d
600
1200
: Therefore
=
=
B
A
Linear System
Change the answer into sexagesimal
form

0 , 10
600
0 , 20
1200

=
Y
X
It all started around
3000 BC with the
Babylonians.

They were one of the
world's first
civilizations, and
came up with some
great ideas like
agriculture,
irrigation and
writing.
Babylonians for the rather less pleasant
invention of the (dreaded) taxman.

And this was one of the reasons that
the Babylonians needed to solve
quadratic equations.
Let's suppose that you are a
Babylonian farmer.







Somewhere on your farm you have a
square field on which you grow some
crop.








Double the length of each side of the
field and you find that you can grow four
times as much of the crop as before.
What
amount of
your crop
can you grow
on the field?
In mathematical terms,


c = mx
whereby;

x : the length of the side of the field
m : the amount of crop you can grow on
a square field of side length 1
c : the amount of crop that you can
grow


c
x
m
This is first quadratic equation.

Quadratic equations and areas are
linked together like brothers and
sisters in the same family.

However, at the moment it don't have
to solve anything until the tax man
arrives, that is! Cheerily he says to
the farmer

The farmer now
has a dilemma:
how big a field
does he need to
grow that amount
of crop?
I want you to
give me crops to
pay for the taxes
on your farm !


We can answer this question easily, in
fact........
m
c
x =
Now, not all
fields are square.

Let's now suppose
that the farmer
has a more oddly
shaped field with
two triangular
sections as shown
on the right.
Then you can
imply how to find
the solution of the
problem

But then perhaps
our ol Babylonian
pals have to wait
for Al Khwarizmi in
about a thousand
years or so to get
the following
formula.

The word geometry ( geo=earth and metria=measurement)
means earth measuring .

Babylonian civilizations had the origin in simple
observations from human ability to recognize physical form
and to compare shapes and size.

Babylonian people were forced to take on geometric topics,
although it may not have been recognized as such.

For example: Man had to learn with situations involving
distance, bounding their land, and constructing walls and
homes. These types of situations were directly related to the
geometric concepts of vertical, parallel, and perpendicular.


The Babylonians were aware of the connections between
algebraic calculations and geometry.

Geometrical terms such as length and area in their
algebraic solutions. It is apparent, however, that these terms
served only to give names to unknown quantities as they had
no objection to mixing dimensions ( adding lengths to areas).



From the examples given by the Babylonians we know that
they must have been familiar with:

The general rules for the area of a rectangle, right angled
triangle, isosceles triangle, trapezoid (with one side
perpendicular to the base) and parallelograms

The Pythagorean Theorem

The fact that in an isosceles triangle, the line joining the
vertex
to the midpoint of the base is perpendicular to the base

The proportionality of the corresponding sides of similar
triangles.

For a circle:
Circumference of a circle= 3x Diameter
Area =1/12 x square of circumference

which would be correct if is estimated
as 3


Thank you..