Don't Fall for Babylonian Trigonometry Hype

Posted by: Hermione (IP Logged)

Date: August 30, 2017 02:41PM


Plimpton 322, an ancient Mesopotamian math tablet, is a fascinating document, but it's not going to revolutionize trigonometry.

Interesting that you would say it would not revolutionize "trigonometry" as let us look at the definition of ""trigonometry"

" ... Trigonometry (from Greek trigōnon, "triangle" and metron, "measure"[1]) is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships involving lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies ... "

" ... The Mesopotamians passed their base-60 numerical system to the ancient Egyptians, who used it to divide a circle into 360 degrees. ... "

and finally this ...

According to Otto Neugebauer (in his _The Exact Sciences in
Antiquity_), who is one of the world's leading experts in ancient
mathematics and astronomy, "A second Egyptian contribution to
astronomy is the division of the day into 24 hours, though these hours
were originally not of even length but were dependent upon the
seasons." A little further on he says, "Thus our present division of
the day into 24 hours of 60 minutes each is the result of a
Hellenistic (Greek) modification of an Egyptian practice combined with
Babylonian numerical procedures."

As you may know, the Babylonians/Mesopotamians used base 60 numbers in
their business, astronomy, and mathematics (they used base 10 numbers
as well). Probably connected to this was the division of the
circumference of a circle into 360 parts by Babylonian astronomers.
Geometric circles and the apparent movement of stars on the celestial
sphere go naturally together and time is a common feature of
astronomy. I think, then, that it was natural to use the division of a
circle on a clock face. [mathforum.org]

So it appears that the Babylonians DID NOT HAVE A 360 DEGREE CIRLCE (before 5th century BCE) and therefore COULD NOT HAVE HAD ANY FORM OF TRIGONOMETRY since by definition we need angles to have trig.

Maybe The Babylonians had there sexagessimal system BUT THEY DID NOT APPLY IT TO A CIRCLE AND THUS DID NOT FIGURE OUT DEGREES !!!!!!
The ancient Babylonians had known of theorems on the ratios of the sides of similar triangles for many centuries, but they lacked the concept of an angle measure and consequently, studied the sides of triangles instead.[16] (Bold and underline is mine)

Okay so we arrive at a start date of angles (trigonometry) as about the 5th century BCE. So prior to this there was only "seked" in Egypt and I am not sure what The Babylonians used. But seked is rise to run when rise is 1 Royal Cubit but perhaps there is someone in the audience who would like to explain to us how "seked" was used IN LAND SURVEYS ! If you take the time to read this website of mine I explain it quite nicely ... [donbarone.altervista.org] Parts Vi and VIII

And since we have now finally noted or noticed that there were no angles to be turned in The IVth dynasty ... explain to us once again just how the fields were laid out after the inundation ...

Regards
Don Barone


"There is nothing as impenetrable as a closed mind"
and ..." if everything is a coincidence what is the point of studying or measuring or analyzing anything ?" db