Weighing stones in ancient Mesopotamia
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Weighing stones in ancient Mesopotamia
zbMATH Open document ID: 1006.01001
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 2002-07-08T00:00:00Z
review text: The article analyses the Old Babylonian text YBC 5652, a catalogue of problem statements (with appurtenant solutions but no description of the procedure) of the type: I found a stone; I did not weigh it I added/removed \(p\) I added/removed \(q\) (of the resulting weight); 1 mana (resulted), \(p\) and \(q\) being mostly aliquot parts, at times absolute contributions or combinations of relative and absolute contributions; the mana is a fundamental weight unit \((=60\) shekel). The author proposes that solutions were to be found in two- or three-step backward calculations making use of the method of a single false position, arguing (correctly), firstly, that this method is well attested in the Old Babylonian material, secondly, that almost all resulting calculations would involve only numbers listed directly in the standard tables of reciprocals and multiplication. The problems are pointed out to have been constructed with pedagogical care and insight. One small correction: Li Ma in the bibliography should be Ma, Li (or Ma Li); correspondingly, in note 21 [Li Ma 1993] should be [Ma 1993] .
reviewed by: Jens Høyrup
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A17
zbMATH DE Number: 1764723
zbMATH Keywords: old Babylonian mathematics
zbMATH Keywords: false position
zbMATH Keywords: algorithms
author: Duncan J. Melville
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: hmat.2001.2328
OpenAlex ID: W1983621781
cites work: Die Algebra der Babylonier
cites work: On Parts of Parts and Ascending Continued Fractions An Investigation of the Origins and Spread of a Peculiar System
cites work: "Remarkable Numbers" in Old Babylonian Mathematical Texts: A Note on the Psychology of Numbers
cites work: Q5833980
cites work: Babylonian Mathematical Texts I. Reciprocals of Regular Sexagesimal Numbers
cites work: Q3289833
DOI: 10.1006/HMAT.2001.2328
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1764723