Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
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Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322.
If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."
*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2
I don't claim to understand why Plimpton 322 exists. Was it a reference for surveying? Was it math homework? Was it a magical numbers game?
I don't know.
I do, however know some of the thinking the creators had to do to make it. I've gone through the same steps myself. I know how much work it would be to produce those numbers... would have taken a few days at least. Lots of scratch calculations and checking your work.
Even the errors make sense, I see how they could happen.
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I don't claim to understand why Plimpton 322 exists. Was it a reference for surveying? Was it math homework? Was it a magical numbers game?
I don't know.
I do, however know some of the thinking the creators had to do to make it. I've gone through the same steps myself. I know how much work it would be to produce those numbers... would have taken a few days at least. Lots of scratch calculations and checking your work.
Even the errors make sense, I see how they could happen.
So, I feel like I know the people who made this tablet just a little. That makes it a good benchmark in time.
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Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322.
If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."
*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2
@futurebird My pet hypothesis is that Plimpton 322 is a homework assignment. The student was given s and d , and expected to calculate l. Extra credit if you can prove Teacher made mistakes in the exercises.
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@futurebird My pet hypothesis is that Plimpton 322 is a homework assignment. The student was given s and d , and expected to calculate l. Extra credit if you can prove Teacher made mistakes in the exercises.
OK, but why bake the homework to save it forever?
I was thinking something more like a class project, a collection of the best triplets found by a group working hard on mathematics for some reason all those years ago.
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OK, but why bake the homework to save it forever?
I was thinking something more like a class project, a collection of the best triplets found by a group working hard on mathematics for some reason all those years ago.
@futurebird
I can't explain why the homework was baked, but then, I also can't explain why about half of my classes in high school and all of my classes in college featured at least one classmate who went and got their homework folder professionally bound. That never made sense to me either. -
Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322.
If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."
*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2
@futurebird is it ~3800 years since some human group started writing? I've searched something like "when did humans start writing" before, but found no answer.
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@futurebird is it ~3800 years since some human group started writing? I've searched something like "when did humans start writing" before, but found no answer.
@futurebird found it now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing - «Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognized – in Mesopotamia c. 3400 – c. 3100 BC, in Egypt c. 3250 BC, in China before c. 1250 BC, and in Mesoamerica before c. 1 AD. [...]».
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@futurebird found it now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing - «Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognized – in Mesopotamia c. 3400 – c. 3100 BC, in Egypt c. 3250 BC, in China before c. 1250 BC, and in Mesoamerica before c. 1 AD. [...]».
@futurebird i used to think writing is the most powerful technology humans ever invented, one that still has the power to make this world become much better, because lies are more easily detected and exposed when they are written, and because it's easier to think when writing, than it is while talking, but the advent of "generative text" by the "AI", with its pollution of the infosphere, is quickly shrinking my trust.
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@futurebird i used to think writing is the most powerful technology humans ever invented, one that still has the power to make this world become much better, because lies are more easily detected and exposed when they are written, and because it's easier to think when writing, than it is while talking, but the advent of "generative text" by the "AI", with its pollution of the infosphere, is quickly shrinking my trust.
I still think it's very powerful. But I also think my stories are better than anything AI can produce.
Do I have a big head? Perhaps. But, also I have to write the story because if I don't it won't exist, and AI can't make a story that captures what I'm getting at.
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Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322.
If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."
*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2
Here's an article from Columbia University (the institution that has custody of the tablet) that gives a little more of the history of the Plimpton 322 tablet.
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/babylon-revisited -
F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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Here's an article from Columbia University (the institution that has custody of the tablet) that gives a little more of the history of the Plimpton 322 tablet.
https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/babylon-revisitedHere’s an interesting passage from the article:
“Plimpton 322 was uncovered in Iraq at the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Larsa around 1920. After World War I, as the Allies carved up the Ottoman Empire, speculators swarmed to plunder the region’s ancient treasures for museums and libraries. Among these adventurers was Edgar James Banks, an archaeologist who climbed Mount Ararat in search of Noah’s ark and was a model for the fictional character Indiana Jones.”
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Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history.
Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322.
If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."
*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2
