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Hints of Trigonometry on a 3,700-Year-Old Babylonian Tablet
- notadoc 9y agoFantastic discovery
- ramzyo 9y agoTo clarify, the article is about a new interpretation of a previously discovered artifact.
- empath75 9y agoThis has been posted a bunch before and one should be fairly skeptical that of Wildbergers interpretation of Babylonian tablets that happens to coincide with his quirky method of doing trigonometry that he came up with because he doesn't like real numbers.
- komali2 9y agoCan you speak more about this, or point me to further reading?
- ksenzee 9y agoA healthy amount of skepticism is fair, especially since Wildberger is a fairly odd duck. But the kind of trigonometry Wildberger proposes does work: you can use it to figure the height of a ziggurat. So it's conceivable that the Babylonians discovered it and used it.
- igravious 9y agoPosted 4/5 days ago. An ancient Babylonian tablet may contain the first evidence of trigonometry[0] (sciencemag.org) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15095237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15095237 [0] http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/ancient-babylonian-tablet-may-contain-first-evidence-trigonometry http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/ancient-babylonian-ta...