Homework September 18: Babylonian word problems and factors

 

Unquestionably, the structure of the word problems from the Babylonian era does mirror the ones we have today. While they attempt to apply to the real world, one would argue that some of the problems are more hypothetical in nature.

One of the points that stood out to me, was that the Babylonian problems were labelled as “practical”, yet many of the problems extended beyond the nature of a habitual task that the Babylonians or other civlizations would partake in. For example, a grain pile of 36-48 cubits (18-24 m) high is difficult to imagine let alone actually create.  Moreover, I found it highly interesting that the Babylonians would compromise precision for solutions that were more appealing. For example, when solving right-angled triangles and trying to find the length of one of the legs or the diagonal, they would opt for the integer answer so as to avoid fractions. Perhaps, it was due to the literacy of other people and keeping it in integers would make it easier to explain. Alternatively, certainly, it would be easier to make further calculations with integers as opposed to fractions.