Babylonian tablet with astronomical calculations The Babylon | World Theatre
Babylonian tablet with astronomical calculations
The Babylonians were excellent astronomers, many of their tablets correctly described the movements of the stars. But the tablet below, now in the London Museum, is unique.
The fact is that this tablet calculates the path of Jupiter through the sky ... using the methods of modern mathematics. Using integrals and velocity-time diagrams!
These methods appeared in modern mathematics only in the 17th century with the light hand of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. This sign... shouldn't be there!
Where did the Babylonians get knowledge in the field of mathematical analysis? Historians shrug.
