MESOPOTAMIAN MATHEMATICS 2100-1600 BC by Eleanor Robson ( 9780198152460 )

Item Details

Title:

MESOPOTAMIAN MATHEMATICS 2100-1600 BC
TECHNICAL CONSTANTS IN BUREAUCRACY AND EDUCATION

By:

Eleanor Robson

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£222.50

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£194.69

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£27.81

ISBN 10:

0198152469

ISBN 13:

9780198152460

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Publisher:

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

20 May, 1999

Series:

Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts XIV

Pages:

350

Description:

This book contains a study of the technical constants found in Old Babylonian mathematics 4000 years ago - the earliest `pure' mathematics in history. Their origins are traced to earlier accounting and administrative practices, and are used to examine aspects of mathematics education in early Mesopotamia.

Synopsis:

Mathematics was integral to Mesopotamian scribal culture: indeed, writing was invented towards the end of the fourth millennium BC for the express purpose of recording numerical information. By the beginning of the second millennium the earliest known body of 'pure' mathematics was one of the key elements of scribal training, and is thus pivotal to our understanding of the educational practices and intellectual history of ancient Mesopotamia. The main body of this book is a mathematical and philological discussion of the two hundred technical constants, or 'coefficients', found in early second millennium mathematics. Their names and mathematical functions are established, leading to improved interpretations of several large mathematical topics. The origins of many coefficients - and much of the more practical mathematics - are traced to late third millennium accounting and quantity surveying practices. Finally, the coefficients are used to examine some aspects of mathematics education in early Mesopotamia.

Illustrations:

numerous figures

Publication:

Imprint:

Clarendon Press

Returns:

Returnable

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