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Funding for this project generously provided by Overdeck Family Foundation

History of
Mathematics

Project

around 1900–1600 BCE

Babylonian Geometrical Problem Tablet

Clay tablet with geometrical problems accompanied by diagrams

Tablet BM 15285, held by the British Museum, has been instrumental in the understanding of Old Babylonian line geometry. It consists of 40 problems with diagrams but no solutions. A third of the tablet is missing.

Babylonian Geometrical Problem Tablet

This tablet, dated to around 1900–1600 BCE, contains problems involving figures drawn inside squares. The problems are ordered by increasing complexity. The first 12 problems concern squares, circles and right triangles; many of the remainder consider more complicated figures.

Artifact dimensions

26.2 cm × 30.8 cm

Original artifact location

Babylonia (historical name), Iraq (current name)

Current artifact location

British Museum, London

Catalog number

BM 15285

Timeline

Geometry timeline Babylonian Nested Triangle Tablet Babylonian Geometrical Problem Tablet Babylonian Sippar Recombination Text Moscow Mathematical Papyrus Euclid's Elements Euclid Diagram Papyrus Moche Net Balance Scale Al-Tusi's Commentary on the Elements

Interactive Content

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Computational Explanation

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Other Resources

Additional Reading

  • Albenda, P. "55) On Geometry and Assyrian Decorative Designs." Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, No. 2 (June), pp. 101–103, 2017.
  • Castelnuovo, E. Ch. 10, Problem 41/Fig. 568 and Problem 45/Fig. 572 in La Geometria. Barcelona: Ketres, pp. 243–244 and p. 333, 1981.
  • Friberg, J. Amazing Traces of a Babylonian Origin in Greek Mathematics. Singapore: World Scientific, 2007.
  • Gadd, C. J. "Forms and Colours." Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale, Vol. 19, pp. 149–159, 1922.
  • Neugebauer, O. Mathematische Keilschrift-Texte, Teil I. Springer, pp. 137–142, 1935.
  • Neugebauer, O. and Sachs, A. (Eds.). Mathematical Cuneiform Texts. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society and the American Schools of Oriental Research, pp. 53–57, 1945.
  • Robson, E. "Appendix 2: BM 15285." In Mesopotamian Mathematics, 2100–1600 BC: Technical Constants in Bureaucracy and Education. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, pp. 208–217, 1999.
  • Robson, E. "Mesopotamian Mathematics: Mathematical Problems." Ch. 2, § III.b in The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook (Ed. Victor Katz). Princeton University Press, pp. 92–100, 2007.
  • Robson, E. "The Long Career of a Favorite Figure: The apsamikku in Neo-Babylonian Mathematics." Ch. 14 in From the Banks of the Euphrates: Studies in Honor of Alice Louise Slotsky (Ed. M. Ross). University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, pp. 211–226, 2008.
  • Saggs, H. W. F. "A Babylonian Geometrical Text." Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. 54, pp. 131–146, 1960.
  • Sigrist, M.; Figulla, H. H.; and Walker, C. B. F. Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, Volume II. London: British Museum Press, 1996.
  • Thureau-Dangin, F. Textes Mathématiques Babyloniens. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, p. 53, 1938.