Today's story is for the Math Geeks and when did mathematics start? Well according to scientists thaT found a Babylonian tablet named IM 67118, which predates Pythagoras by several centuries and uses the principles of the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the length of a diagonal inside a rectangle.
According to IFL Science, the tablet is estimated to be from 1770 BC, long before Pythagoras was born. Another tablet was found with labeled triangles inside a square trace back to around 1800-1600 BC.
So before we get into too many details let look at what The Pythagorean theorem is shell we. Perhaps a refresher from High School from a long, long, long time ago for some of us like myself. Thou not sure if they even teach this anymore based on the changes and decline of math scores across the United States. Anyway, the Pythagorean theorem states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (c) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (a and b). Or in other words the equation: a2 + b2 = c2. So how did they decode Babylonian writing?
Decoding using Babylonians' base:
When mathematicians decoded the markings using the Babylonians’ base 60 counting system, it revealed that these ancient mathematicians had knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem, along with other advanced mathematical concepts.
Bruce Ratner, a mathematician, wrote in the paper: "The conclusion is inescapable. The Babylonians knew the relation between the length of the diagonal of a square and its side: d=square root of 2."
"This was probably the first number known to be irrational. However, this in turn means that they were familiar with the Pythagorean Theorem – or, at the very least, with its special case for the diagonal of a square (d2 = a2 + a2 = 2a2) – more than a thousand years before the great sage for whom it was named."
Ok one other point note that the Babylonians used a base 60 system opposed to a base 10 we are used to today. So what is a Base 60 system?
Babylonian mathematics used a sexagesimal (base 60) system that was so functional it remains in effect, albeit with some tweaks, in the 21st century. Whenever people tell time or make reference to the degrees of a circle, they rely on the base 60 system.
Base 10 or Base 60:
The system surfaced circa 3100 BCE, according to The New York Times. “The number of seconds in a minute — and minutes in an hour — comes from the base-60 numeral system of ancient Mesopotamia,” the paper noted.
Although the system has stood the test of time, it is not the dominant numeral system used today. Instead, most of the world relies on the base 10 system of Hindu-Arabic origin.
The number of factors distinguishes the base 60 system from its base 10 counterpart, which likely developed from people counting on both hands. The former system uses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60 for base 60, while the latter uses 1, 2, 5, and 10 for base 10. The Babylonian mathematics system may not be as popular as it once was, but it has advantages over the base 10 system because the number 60 “has more divisors than any smaller positive integer,” the Times pointed out.
Instead of using times tables, the Babylonians multiplied using a formula that depended on knowing just the squares. With only their table of squares (albeit going up to a monstrous 59 squared), they could compute the product of two integers, a and b, using a formula similar to:
ab = [(a + b)2 - (a - b)2]/4. The Babylonians even knew the formula that’s today known as the Pythagorean theorem.
Additionally, Ratner said that the rarity of Pythagoras' original sources was that Pythagorean knowledge was passed on from one generation to the next by word of mouth, as writing material was scarce. This may have helped denote the discovery to the Greek Mathematician.
"Moreover, out of respect for their leader, many of the discoveries made by the Pythagoreans were attributed to Pythagoras himself; this would account for the term ‘Pythagoras’ Theorem,’" said Ratner.
The study was published on September 15, 2009, in the Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing.
So the Babylonians and maybe older civilizations had an advanced concept of mathematics before the current system we use today was brough forth. So what do you think about this story?
References:
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/ancient-babylonian-tablet-pythagorean-theorem
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-we-still-use-babylonian-mathematics-116679
I have lost a lot of faith with the Medical Community and the Governments over the last several years, but there are a few good things that can raise above the corruption and the pushing of drugs a new approach to heal people. The following is from www.gaia.com and written by Hunter Parsons that does not involve any drug or pushing an ineffective so called vaccine that the drug company is not held accountable in any way but they use sound! The use of sound can regrow bone tissue! Here is the story:
"The future of regenerative medicine could be found within sound healing by regrowing bone cells with sound waves.
The use of sound as a healing modality has an ancient tradition all over the world. The ancient Greeks used sound to cure mental disorders; Australian Aborigines reportedly use the didgeridoo to heal; and Tibetan or Himalayan singing bowls were, and still are, used for spiritual healing ceremonies.
Recently, a study showed an hour-long sound bowl meditation reduced anger, fatigue, anxiety, and ...
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"Wormholes, invisibility cloaks, and anti-gravity — it’s not science fiction, it’s just some of the exotic things the U.S. government has been researching.
A massive document dump by the Defense Intelligence Agency shows some of the wild research projects the United States government was, at least, funding through the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program known as AATIP.
And another lesser-known entity called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program or AAWSAP
The Defense Intelligence Agency has recently released a large number of documents to different news outlets and individuals who have filed Freedom of Information Act requests.
Of particular interest are some 1,600 pages released to Vice News, which ...
As our technology gets better we are discovering more about the history of mankind and pushing the timeline back further and further. The following article is from www.gaia.com and written by Michael Chary that discusses this new find that changes the historical timeline:
"Over the past decade, there have been a number of archeological revelations pushing back the timeline of human evolution and our ancient ancestors’ various diasporas. Initially, these discoveries elicit some resistance as archeologists bemoan the daunting prospect of rewriting the history books, though once enough evidence is presented to established institutions, a new chronology becomes accepted.
But this really only pertains to the era of human development that predates civilization — the epochs of our past in which we were merely hunter-gatherers and nomads roaming the savannahs. Try challenging the consensus timeline of human civilization and it’s likely you’ll be met with derision and rigidity.
Conversely, someone of an alternative...
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Seemingly chaotic systems like the weather and the financial markets are governed by the laws of chaos theory.
We all have heard about chaos theory, but if you have not or have forgotten what chaos theory is well here you go from interestingengineering.com:
"Chaos theory deals with dynamic systems, which are highly sensitive to initial conditions, making it almost impossible to track the resulting unpredictable behavior. Chaos theory seeks to find patterns in systems that appear random, such as weather, fluid turbulence, and the stock market.
Since the smallest of changes can lead to vastly different outcomes, the long-term behavior of chaotic systems is difficult to predict despite their inherently deterministic nature.
As Edward Lorenz, who first proposed what became commonly known as the Butterfly Effect, eloquently said, "Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.""
You may have heard the term about chaos theory as a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil,...
I for one have lost trust in Medical Doctors due to COVID and reflection that they seem to push pills for everything and untested so called vaccines that is using a unproven technology because the Government and the Medical Boards of the State told them to. There are a very few exceptions. Thus they do not address the key problem just prescribe more and more pills to keep you alive an sick longer for them and Big Phama to profit from you. Will AI do any better? Well that depends on what was used for the training of AI. If it also pushes pills and vaccines without question then you have the same problems noted above. However, if the AI Training includes all possible forms of treatment and they zero in on the right issues for the true problem then there is possibilities they would be way better than most of the current Medical Doctors today.
The following is from an article from interestingengineering.com and written by Paul Ratner:
"A new study looks at how accurately AI can diagnose patients. We interview the researcher, who weighs in on AI's role ...
