Comments on: Chipping the web - beginning with the tempest and ending in tragediesA tiny spark of wit for a highly flammable worldBy: Stu Savory- December 31, 2006 I 'think' they observed the values of A,B, and C and then computed the expressions I gave in my blog, reducing them to unit fractions as they went (that's where the 'rounding' error occurred IMHO). I'll blog about the timing of the sequence example collection - pattern detection - conjecture - proof in january. Gimme time to work it up, OK Interesting observation about the lack of abstractions. Afraid my only ancient language is Latin, but only to the extent of being able to read it a little.http://www.chipsquips.com/?p=697#comment-24770 By: Chipping the web - extraterrestrial inspiration -- Chips Quips- December 30, 2006 ... Beginning with the tempest and ending in tragedies : The First Folio, the first published collection of 36 of Shakespeares plays, begins with The Tempest and ends with the tragedies. ...http://www.chipsquips.com/?p=697#comment-24735 By: sterling- December 30, 2006 Stu, Thanks for adding more info with your comment. From what you said about a rounding error, does that mean that these values were computed instead of observed Besides not having the ideas of theorem and proof, I had assumed that the Babylonians didn't have an equation for it, either -- that they collected observed instances and possibly perceived a pattern, but weren't able to abstract it beyond that. Am I wrong I studied ancient near eastern languages in college, and one of the things..http://www.chipsquips.com/?p=697#comment-24715 By: Stu Savory- December 30, 2006 Just FYI, there are 4 errors on that cuneiform tablet. One is a rounding error. One is due to the scribe misinterpreting the position of the "point" (there being no Zero in their positional notation. The third is the use of A resp. B (tables of which must have been available to the scribe) instead of the algebraic constructs I gave. The fourth I don't understand the source of the error. Jane and Ivan have asked me to comment on the 'usual' times between dtat-collection - conjecture - proof, so.http://www.chipsquips.com/?p=697#comment-24694 |