Buch, Englisch, Band XIV, 350 Seiten, Format (B × H): 229 mm x 308 mm
Technical Constants in Bureaucracy and Education
Buch, Englisch, Band XIV, 350 Seiten, Format (B × H): 229 mm x 308 mm
Reihe: Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts
ISBN: 978-0-19-815246-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press
Mathematics was integral to Mesopotamian scribal culture: indeed, writing was invented towards the end of the fourth millennium BC for the express purpose of recording numerical information. By the beginning of the second millennium the earliest known body of 'pure' mathematics was one of the key elements of scribal training, and is thus pivotal to our understanding of the educational practices and intellectual history of ancient Mesopotamia.
The main body of this book is a mathematical and philological discussion of the two hundred technical constants, or `coefficients', found in early second millennium mathematics. Their names and mathematical functions are established, leading to improved interpretations of several large mathematical topics. The origins of many coefficients - and much of the more practical mathematics - are traced to late third millennium accounting and quantity surveying practices. Finally, the coefficients are
used to examine some aspects of mathematics education in early Mesopotamia.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
- Mathematik | Informatik Mathematik Mathematik Allgemein Geschichte der Mathematik
- Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie
