Babylonian tablets with astronomical calculationsThe Babylonians were excellent astronomers, and many of their tablets correctly described the movements of the stars. But the tablet below, which is now preserved in a London museum, is unique.
The fact is that this tablet calculates the path of Jupiter across the sky...using the methods of modern mathematics. Using integrals and velocity-time diagrams!
These methods did not appear in modern mathematics until the 17th century with the light hand of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. This plate ... should not be there!
Where did the Babylonians get their knowledge of mathematical analysis? Historians are waving their hands.
