Math History

January 23, 2022 11:11 PM

Take an online journey through the history of math - "'History of Mathematics' explores the origins of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and more... Take the Pythagorean theorem. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who lived in the sixth century B.C., famously related the side lengths of a right triangle in the equation a² + b² = c². But a clay tablet reveals that people in Mesopotamia had worked out the relationship more than 1,000 years earlier."[1,2,3,4]
posted by kliuless (4 comments total)

Well I guess I can start eating beans again.
posted by blakewest at 1:55 AM on January 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

I like the ancient 20-sided dice… I wonder if anyone has fabricated them for a bespoke ttrpg….
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:27 AM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

This is cool. The certainty with which they say things about quipus makes me a bit skeptical about the things I know even less about. But, it's a good story and probably mostly true.
posted by eotvos at 8:56 AM on January 24, 2022

Great stuff! Now I'm wondering how to turn some of these into lessons for my high school algebra students....I think if I gave them some of those Regents tests from 1907 their heads would explode.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 1:54 PM on January 25, 2022