A Study On Babylonian Mathematics

The Babylonian civilization is the pioneer of civilization in the long history of mankind,and its science and technology have spread all over the world so far.The mathematicscreated by the Babylonians is an important part of the Babylonian Civilization,the establishment of the sexagesimal place value system notation,the calculation of square diagonal,and the discovery and application of the Pythagorean triples are all amazing achievements that lead the world.Currently,workers in the history of mathematics have been studied mainly the brief history and scientific popularization of the Babylonian mathematics in China,but it is still relatively weak in terms of the specialized study and system arrange.This article discusses the latter problem and deepens study on certain topics in the process of discussion.The Babylonian mathematics has experienced the discovery and formation of the sexagesimal place value system notation,the establishment of the reciprocal table,making of multiplication tables and other number tables,the stability of various basic operations,and gradually formed their own practical characteristics.The Babylonians have haven many ways to solve the reciprocal.The reciprocal has haven a wide range of applications,not only could it play the role of combining with multiplication to act as a division,but it could also represent a logarithm.A regular number in the form of???532 was used to represent the reciprocal,and it was also used to calculate all mutually Pythagorean triples.In addition to the rate between the familiar hours,minutes,and seconds are sexagesimal system.The size of rate and transformation rule among Babylonian measurement systems will be presented one by one.The Babylonians had extraordinary computing power,mainly focused on arithmetic,algebra and geometry.The Babylonian sexagesimal place value system notation uses a very special symbol that does not contain any exponent part,and actually uses floating point(The representation of floating-point numbers is similar to the scientific decimal notation).The Babylonian arithmetic is not only unique in its four arithmetic methods,but also detailedly calculated in application problems such as sheep's reproduction rate and compound interest calculation.In algebra: finding conditions and arranging equations from practical applications,the process of solving the linear equation of one variable and linear equations involves the mechanized features of the algorithm.In terms of geometry: the circumference and area of simple geometric figures can be solved,the discovery of the Pythagorean Theorem can not only find the length of the square diagonal with high precision,but also get multiple sets of Pythagorean triples.It is found that the ancient Babylonian mathematics has the following three characteristics:Firstly,it has distinct sociality.In society,the ancient Babylonian mathematics served production and life.It had strong practicality and was inseparable from astronomical research.Secondly,its algorithm is mechanically.First of all,Solving geometric problems with algebraic solution.Some theories and methods of arithmetic have a wide range of applications in geometry.It also shows that the calculation method is programmed,and each type of mathematical problem can be solved with procedural algorithm steps.Thirdly,it is limited.Babylonian mathematics was very close to important mathematical discovery,but unfortunately it does not stick to the last step,lacking the necessary steps.The cultural exchange between the Babylon and other countries and regions is relatively rich.The arithmetic theory has influenced ancient Greece.The sexagesimal place value system notation is popular all over the world.It is mechanically strong on individual algorithms,and the operation is simpler and superior.The Babylonian mathematics is introduced into the western world by Greece,and it made a great contribution to the overall progress of the world science and technology.The Babylonian mathematics from content to method is suitable for mathematics teaching in primary education now.