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Ancient Babylonians Used Geometry That Anticipated CalculusIn an article published in the January 29, 2016, issue of Science, Mathieu Ossendrijver, a historian of science at Humboldt University in Berlin, describes how Babylonian astronomers between 350 and 50 BCE used geometric methods thought to have been invented 1,400 years later to calculate the motion of Jupiter.
The Babylonians in effect constructed a graph with velocity across the sky as the vertical axis and time as the horizontal axis. By calculating the area under a curve on such a graph, one can obtain the total distance an object has traveled across the sky. In the case of Jupiter, the Babylonians described its motion as what looks like a trapezoid on the graph. They then calculated the trapezoid’s area. Their geometric methods were very similar to the Merton theorem, which was discovered by mathematicians at Oxford’s Merton College in the early 14th century and proved graphically by French bishop Nicholas Oresme around 1361. Such methods are a precursor to calculus.
One wonders how many times there were people that were on the verge of major discoveries, and others failed to follow up, and it took many centuries for the development to happen once again.
The ancients were no slouches; that's one of the reasons we're still around.
The ancients were no slouches; that's one of the reasons we're still around.
As I have aged I marvel that the "latest" is not necessarily the "greatest". Logic is not the play ground of the modern human only. Dough nuts maybe, but not logic.
The ancients were no slouches; that's one of the reasons we're still around.
As I have aged I marvel that the "latest" is not necessarily the "greatest". Logic is not the play ground of the modern human only. Dough nuts maybe, but not logic.
doughnuts-----fried dough-----seems to show up as various forms of
flat bread----POORI (indian) is fried in oil or ghee----sometimes it is
sweetened----I think-----but no yeast
The ancients were no slouches; that's one of the reasons we're still around.
As I have aged I marvel that the "latest" is not necessarily the "greatest". Logic is not the play ground of the modern human only. Dough nuts maybe, but not logic.
doughnuts-----fried dough-----seems to show up as various forms of
flat bread----POORI (indian) is fried in oil or ghee----sometimes it is
sweetened----I think-----but no yeast
Yes Rosie, but cops don't like it. That is our, the modern touch, sugar, which is the rage. Dentists love it also.
The ancients were no slouches; that's one of the reasons we're still around.
As I have aged I marvel that the "latest" is not necessarily the "greatest". Logic is not the play ground of the modern human only. Dough nuts maybe, but not logic.
doughnuts-----fried dough-----seems to show up as various forms of
flat bread----POORI (indian) is fried in oil or ghee----sometimes it is
sweetened----I think-----but no yeast
Yes Rosie, but cops don't like it. That is our, the modern touch, sugar, which is the rage. Dentists love it also.
