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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Lengths, Widths, Surfaces: A Portrait of Old Babylonian Algebra and Its Kin

Lengths, Widths, Surfaces: A Portrait of Old Babylonian Algebra and Its Kin

Høyrup, Jens

Hardcover

Series: Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physic

Sports GeneralGeneral Mathematics

ISBN10: 0387953035
ISBN13: 9780387953038
Publisher: Springer
Published: Jan 2 2002
Pages: 462
Weight: 1.90
Height: 1.13 Width: 6.64 Depth: 9.20
Language: English

In this examination of the Babylonian cuneiform algebra texts, based on a detailed investigation of the terminology and discursive organization of the texts, Jens H yrup proposes that the traditional interpretation must be rejected. The texts turn out to speak not of pure numbers, but of the dimensions and areas of rectangles and other measurable geometrical magnitudes, often serving as representatives of other magnitudes (prices, workdays, etc...), much as pure numbers represent concrete magnitudes in modern applied algebra. Moreover, the geometrical procedures are seen to be reasoned to the same extent as the solutions of modern equation algebra, though not built on any explicit deductive structure.

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