4 ms·

"So it makes sense to take the average of a and 2/a, and use that as a new guess." Wait, is this supposed to be a secret, ancient Babylonian/Indian method of f

"So it makes sense to take the average of a and 2/a, and use that as a new guess." Wait, is this supposed to be a secret, ancient Babylonian/Indian method of finding the square root? When I was a child, this is how I was told it was done (by hand).

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
joshka 5y ago
> Wait, is this supposed to be a secret, ancient Babylonian/Indian method of finding the square root? When I was a child, this is how I was told it was done (by hand). I'm not sure that I can find that interpretation from the article. Can you tell me more? I saw it more as trying to decode and understand the mindset of a culture far removed by what they left behind.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  I was asking if that algorithm was meant to be part of "the mindset of a culture far removed" from the typical reader or not. You wouldn't know what the author intended, but you would know if you ever heard of how to do square roots by hand.
  - joshka 5y ago
    For me, the intent seems to be clarified by this sentence: > And our question is: what did they really know about the square root of 2?
yantrams 5y ago
Brahmagupta you petulant child! Knowledge often tends to be passed on to future generations without leaving a trail to its origin. Glad to hear about you zeroing in on the art of hastaprayoga at such a tender age. Keep mastering those marmashastras and you might one day decimate the old ways of thinking and reshape the world as we know.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  The home-schooled daughter of an Indian inventor told me about long division. I attended yoga classes at my local Jewish Community Center, but at first I fell asleep. My grandmother was afraid of meditation - she thought that if you emptied your mind, the (Christian) devil would come in. But my mother practiced it regularly and taught me how. I had a secular upbringing, though. The only deity she disliked was...Baal. The point is, there's no reason to assume I found out about calculating square roots or anything else the same way as most people.
  - yantrams 5y ago
    Hey! I was just having fun with that comment. A random word salad is what it is with some wordplay thrown in, latching on to a couple of words in your comment. And ofcourse insinuating that you found out about calculating square roots etc but all in jest. Gupt and Marma mean secret and hast means hand in Sanskrit. Brahmagupta was an ancient Indian mathematician who worked with Zero and decimals and thus the words zeroing and decimate. Hastprayog literally means using hands and is also used as a synonym for masturbation and thus the word master in my comment. Frivolous and childish I know but just couldnt resist. Cheers

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

joshka 5y ago

> Wait, is this supposed to be a secret, ancient Babylonian/Indian method of finding the square root? When I was a child, this is how I was told it was done (by hand). I'm not sure that I can find that interpretation from the article. Can you tell me more? I saw it more as trying to decode and understand the mindset of a culture far removed by what they left behind.

perl4ever 5y ago
I was asking if that algorithm was meant to be part of "the mindset of a culture far removed" from the typical reader or not. You wouldn't know what the author intended, but you would know if you ever heard of how to do square roots by hand.
- joshka 5y ago
  For me, the intent seems to be clarified by this sentence: > And our question is: what did they really know about the square root of 2?

yantrams 5y ago

Brahmagupta you petulant child! Knowledge often tends to be passed on to future generations without leaving a trail to its origin. Glad to hear about you zeroing in on the art of hastaprayoga at such a tender age. Keep mastering those marmashastras and you might one day decimate the old ways of thinking and reshape the world as we know.

perl4ever 5y ago
The home-schooled daughter of an Indian inventor told me about long division. I attended yoga classes at my local Jewish Community Center, but at first I fell asleep. My grandmother was afraid of meditation - she thought that if you emptied your mind, the (Christian) devil would come in. But my mother practiced it regularly and taught me how. I had a secular upbringing, though. The only deity she disliked was...Baal. The point is, there's no reason to assume I found out about calculating square roots or anything else the same way as most people.
- yantrams 5y ago
  Hey! I was just having fun with that comment. A random word salad is what it is with some wordplay thrown in, latching on to a couple of words in your comment. And ofcourse insinuating that you found out about calculating square roots etc but all in jest. Gupt and Marma mean secret and hast means hand in Sanskrit. Brahmagupta was an ancient Indian mathematician who worked with Zero and decimals and thus the words zeroing and decimate. Hastprayog literally means using hands and is also used as a synonym for masturbation and thus the word master in my comment. Frivolous and childish I know but just couldnt resist. Cheers