next »
Babylonian Algebra Problems | MS 5112

ALGEBRA PROBLEMS

MS 5112
MS Short Title ALGEBRA PROBLEMS
Text
  1. METRIC ALGEBRA, A TWO WAYS EXTENDED SQUARE, GEOMETRIC SOLUTION PROCEDURE TO COMPLETE THE SQUARE
  2. QUADRATIC-LINEAR AND QUADRATIC-RECTANGULAR SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS FOR 2 UNKNOWNS
  3. THREE CONCENTRIC SQUARES WITH THEIR SIDES IN AN ARITHMETICAL PROGRESSION
  4. QUADRATIC LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS FOR 2 SQUARES
  5. ARITHMETICAL PROGRESSION OF SQUARE SIDES OF 6 CONCENTRIC SQUARES
  6. QUADRATIC EQUATION WITH INCORRECT DATA
  7. RECTANGULAR-LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS WITH ADDING/SUBRACTING A CORNER
  8. RECTANGLE WHERE THE AREA IS EQUAL TO THE LENGTH PLUS THE FRONT SOLVED BY METRIC ALGEBRA
  9. CHANGING THE FORM OF A RECTANGLE WHILE KEEPING THE AREA, A RECTANGULAR-LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS FOR 2 UNKNOWNS
  10. A SYSTEM OF LINEAR EQUATIONS FOR THE LENGTH AND FRONT OF A RECTANGLE
  11. BASIC RECTANGULAR-LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS
  12. A RECTANGULAR-LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS REDUCED TO A QUADRATIC EQUATION BY SCALING
  13. RECTANGULAR-LINEAR SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS
Description MS in Middle Babylonian on clay, Babylonia, late Kassite period, 14th-13th c. BC, upper half of a tablet, 8,9x9,8x2,7 cm, 2+2 columns, 125 lines in a clear minute cuneiform script
Commentary A Collection of 13+3 partly preserved of originally 23 metric algebra problem texts.
Published Jöran Friberg: A remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts. Springer 2007. Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, vol. 6, Cuneiform Texts I. pp. 308-341.
Colophon Total: 23 hand tablets - 22. The problem texts were the higher mathematics of the time, and for the better students only.
Place of origin Babylonia
Dates ca 1900 - 1700 BC