Babylonians Discovered Calculus

by cofty 15 Replies latest social current

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  cofty

  It had been assumed that rudimentary calculus was developed in Europe in the 14th century but now it turns out that the Babylonians worked it out more than 2000 years ago.

  Researchers have deciphered a detail on a cuneiform tablet held at the British museum and revealed that it describes the movement of Jupiter.

  Babylonians believed that Jupiter's position was integral to predicting the weather, the price of goods, and the fluctuating river levels throughout the year.

  "The now-decoded 'text A' describes a procedure for calculating Jupiter’s displacement across the ecliptic plane.. by tracking Jupiter’s speed as a function of time and determining the area under a time-velocity curve."

  Read more here...
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  fulltimestudent

  It's a great discovery, isn't it.?
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  Wasanelder Once

  I read that as well. It sort of takes away the notion of people getting more intelligent over the centuries. It was there all along. Of course as we move farther from "perfection" we get dumber. Good ol' Watchtower bullshit.
  
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  slimboyfat

  So much for evolution!
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  kaik

  Calculus was also known to Greeks and Egyptians, but really, it was European universities in the 13th and 14th century got focused on mathematics beyond geometry and algebra. Modern calculus was not established until 17th and 18th century.
  
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  konceptual99

  So much for evolution!

  Really SBF...? Has this got to be debunked as well? I can't tell if you are being ironic or not :-)
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  cofty

  It sort of takes away the notion of people getting more intelligent over the centuries

  Not really. They were so interested in Jupiter because they thought it was integral to predicting the weather, the price of goods, and the fluctuating river levels
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  slimboyfat

  Interesting line of defence Cofty. I thought you'd more straightforwardly point out that evolution doesn't necessitate humans getting smarter. Being dumber or having a smaller brain could equally have selective advantages. In fact I think some have argued humans are getting dumber. The opposite of the Flynn effect.

  And yes konceptual99 it was a joke. Seriously I am wasted on this crowd. ;-)
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I knew they were evil!
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  St George of England

  Archimedes also did rudimentary calculus in the 3rd Century BC whilst working on conic sections. His manuscripts were discovered to have been reused but scientists were able to extract most of the original calculations, 1990's if I remember rightly.

  Just don't tell the WT art dept or the next picture of Noah will have a slide rule in his hand....

  George