Before Pythagoras:
The Culture of Old Babylonian Mathematics
Extended dates: November 12, 2010 - January 23, 2011
Highlights from the Exhibition
University of Pennsylvania Museum B6063
This multiplication table was written by a student named Gan-Gal as a demonstration of his skill as a scribe. Click here to learn more.
Image by University of Pennsylvania Museum. All rights reserved.
Yale Babylonian Collection YBC 7289
This famous tablet is a graphic witness that Babylonian scribes knew Pythagoras' Theorem and could calculate accurate square roots. Click here to learn more.
Image by West Semitic Research. All rights reserved.
Columbia University Plimpton 322
Plimpton 322 reveals that the Babylonians had a method of finding sets of three whole numbers such that the square of one of them is the sum of the squares of the other two, a classic problem in Number Theory. Click here to learn more.
Image by Christine Proust. All rights reserved.