Article PDF
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aaboe A. (1964) Episodes from the early history of mathematics. New Mathematical Library, Vol. 13. Mathematical Association of America, Washington
Anagnostakis C., Goldstein B.R. (1974) On an error in the Babylonian table of Pythagorean triples. Centaurus 18: 64–66
Attinger P. (2008) Racines carrées et racines cubiques. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 98: 12–19
Baqir T. (1962) Tell Dhiba’i: New mathematical texts. Sumer 18: 11–14
Bruins E.M. (1949) On Plimpton 322. Pythagorean numbers in Babylonian mathematics.. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen: Proceedings 52: 629–632
Bruins E.M. (1955) Pythagorean triads in Babylonian mathematics: The errors in Plimpton 322. Sumer 11: 117–121
Bruins E.M. (1957) Pythagorean triads in Babylonian mathematics. The Mathematical Gazette 41: 25–28
Bruins E.M. (1967) Reciprocals and Pythagorean triads. Physis 9: 373–392
Buck R.C. (1980) Sherlock Holmes in Babylon. American Mathematical Monthly 87: 335–45
de Solla Price D.J. (1964) The Babylonian Pythagorean triangle tablet. Centaurus 10: 219–31
Friberg J. (1981) Methods and traditions of Babylonian mathematics: Plimpton 322. Pythagorean triples and the Babylonian triangle parameter equations. Historia Mathematica 8: 277–318
Friberg, J. 1990. Mathematik (in English). In RlA=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie, ed. D.O. Edzard, 531–585. Berlin: Springer.
Friberg, J. 2007. A remarkable collection of Babylonian mathematical texts, sources and studies in the history of mathematics and physical sciences. Berlin: Springer (especially, Appendix 8 Plimpton 322, a Table of Parameters for igi-igi.bi Problems).
Gillings R.J. (1953) Unexplained errors in Babylonian Cuneiform tablet, Plimpton 322. Australian Journal of Science 16(l): 54–56
Glassner J.-J. (2009) Ecrire des livres à l’époque paléo-babylonienne: le traité d’extispicine. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 99: 1–81
Høyrup Jens. (2002) Lengths, widths, surfaces, sources and studies in the history of mathematics and physical sciences. Springer, Berlin
Huber P.J. (1957) Bemerkungen über mathematische Keilschrifttexte. L’Enseignement Mathématique 3: 19–57
Huber, P.J. 1982. Astronomical dating of Babylon I and Ur III, Monographic Journals of the Near East, Occasional Papers. 1/4, June 1982, (with cooperation of A. Sachs, M. Stol, R.M. Whiting, E., Leichty, C.J.P. Walker, G. van Driel).
Huber P.J. (2000). Astronomy and ancient chronology. Akkadica, 119–120; 159–176
Joyce, D.E. 1995. Plimpton 322. http://aleph0.clark.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/plimpnote.html.
Manning S.W., Kromer B., Kuniholm P.I., Newton M.W. (2001) Anatolian tree rings and a new chronology for the east mediterannean bronze-iron ages. Science 294: 2532–2535
Muroi K. (2003) Mathematical term Takiltum and completing the square in Babylonian mathematics.. Historia Scientiarum 12(3): 254–263
Neugebauer, O. 1935–1937. Mathematische Keilschrift-Texte, Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik, Astronomie und Physik, Vol. A3 (3 vols.). Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer.
Neugebauer, O. 1951. The exact sciences in antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2nd ed. in 1957, Copenhagen: Munksgaard, Brown University Press. Reprinted in 1969, New York: Dover.
Neugebauer, O. and Sachs, A.J. 1945. Mathematical Cuneiform texts, American Oriental Series, Vol. 29. New Haven: American Oriental Society.
Proust, C. 2011. Interpretation of reverse algorithms in several Mesopotamian texts. In History of mathematical proof in ancient traditions: the other evidence, ed. K. Chemla (trans. M. Ross). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robson E. (2001) Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Babylon: A reassessment of Plimpton 322. Historia Mathematica 28: 167–206
Robson E. (2002a) Words and picture: New light on Plimpton 322. American Mathematical Monthly 109: 105–120
Robson, E. 2002b. Guaranteed genuine originals: The Plimpton collection and the early history of mathematical assyriology. In Mining the archives, ed. C. Wunsch. Dresden: ISLET Verlag.
Sachs A.J. (1947) Babylonian mathematical texts I: Reciprocals of regular sexagesimal numbers. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 1: 219–240
Schmidt O. (1980) On Plimpton 322. Pythagorean numbers in Babylonian mathematics. Centaurus 24: 4–13
Thureau-Dangin, F. 1938. Textes mathématiques babyloniens. Publications de la société orientale Ex Oriente Lux, Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill.
Vaiman, A.A. 1961. Sumero-babylonian Mathematics in the third to first millennia b.o.e. (Shumero-vavivonskaya matematika III-I tysyacheletiya do n.e.). Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Vostocnoj Literatury.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by: Alexander Jones.
To the great sorrow of his coauthors and many other colleagues, friends and relatives, John Britton died suddenly when this paper was in the last stages of preparation. He was very pleased with the final version, which he was reviewing when he passed away. In completing the article, the coauthors, with the kind assistance of Claudine Britton, made every effort to maintain the text as John had last seen it and preserve a sense of his presence throughout. We dedicate this article to his memory.
This paper came together as a result of a seminar led by Zoë Misiewicz under the supervision of Alexander Jones, held at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW), an affiliate of New York University (NYU), New York, NY on March 3, 2010. Part I was largely completed by Britton, but with corrections and substantial improvements contributed by his fellow authors. Part II was a collective composition.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Britton, J.P., Proust, C. & Shnider, S. Plimpton 322: a review and a different perspective. Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 65, 519–566 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-011-0083-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-011-0083-4