Special lecture series: Mathematical Cuneiform Texts

LECTURE 1 – Applied and Pure Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia

Where: Room TBA, UNSW Sydney campus
When: Thursday 28 January
Time: 4pm – 5pm
Zoom links to be distributed to online participants before the event

This talk discusses some of the geometric problems faced by professional mathematicians from ancient Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period, circa 1900-1600 BCE. We then go on to discuss how one of these problems took on a more theoretical nature, and became what is arguably the first recorded instance of pure mathematics.

LECTURE 2 – Diagonal Approximation

Where: Room TBA, UNSW Sydney campus
When: Monday 1 February
Time: 4pm – 5pm
Zoom links to be distributed to online participants before the event

Square root approximation is often attributed to Hero of Alexandria (first or second century CE). We explore geometric texts from ancient Mesopotamia which describe the method of approximation for the diagonal of a rectangle.

LECTURE 3 – Circular Measurement in Cuneiform Mathematics

Where: Room TBA, UNSW Sydney campus
When: Tuesday 2 February
Time: 4pm – 5pm
Zoom links to be distributed to online participants before the event

Hipparchus (circa 190-120 BCE) is said to be the first person to explore the relationship between chords and arcs. We discuss two texts from ancient Mesopotamia that explore the relationship between area, chords, arcs and sagittae of segments.