Ancient Babylonian Clay Tablet’s Mathematical Riddle Got Solved

The purpose of a well-known 3,700 year old Babylonian clay tablet has been discovered by scientists. The discovery revealed that it is the world’s oldest and right trigonometric table. It was possibly used by ancient mathematical scribes. Ancient mathematical scribes used it to calculate how to construct palaces, temples and also to build canals.

This new research showed that the Babylonians vanquished the Greeks in the invention of trigonometry which is the study of triangles for more than 1,000 years. The research also showed that the Babylonians were the first to study about trigonometry and also revealed an ancient mathematical worldliness that had been hidden until now. The small tablet was known as Plimpton, 322, that got discovered in the early 1900s at a place, which is now southern Iraq. It was discovered by an archaeologist, academic, diplomat and antiquities dealer Edgar Banks. Banks was the person on whom the fictional character Indiana Jones was based.

By: Bhavna Sharma

Content: www.sciencedaily.com