A Remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts: Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection: Cuneiform Texts I

ISBN-13: 9780387345437 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 536 str.

Joran Friberg

Opis

The sub-collection of mathematical cuneiform texts in the Schoyen Collection makes a substantial addition to the known corpus of such texts. It contains 121 texts, not counting 151 multiplication tables and 53 small weight stones. According to the catalog at the end of the Index of Subjects below, where those 121 mathematical texts are ordered by content, nearly all known kinds, and some new kinds, of mathematical cun- form texts are represented in the collection. Therefore it has been possible to organize the present work as a broad general account of Mesopotamian mathematics, illustrated mainly by texts from the Schoyen Collection, but occasionally also by previously published texts. The general disposition of the book is borrowed from my own concise but comprehensive survey of Mesopotamian mathematics in the article on Mathematics in Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 7 (1990). My ambition has been to make the account easily accessible to all kinds of readers, yet still as detailed and exhaustive as possible. For that purpose, there is, for instance, an introductory Chapter 0 on how to get a b- ter understanding of mathematical cuneiform texts . The chapter begins with a discussion of the danger of unintentional anachronisms in translations of pre-Greek mathematical texts, and continues with a presentation of the kind of conform transliterations, translations, and interpretations, true to the original, that will be used throughout the book in discussions of individual texts."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"This fascinating book presents 121 unpublished mathematical clay tablets from the Norwegian Schøyen Collection ... . The book is divided into 12 chapters, 10 appendices, a vocabulary for MS texts, an index of subjects ... and a large list of references. ... Many pictures, drawings and coloured photos of the most interesting tablets are also included. ... opens up Babylonian mathematics to a new generation of mathematicians, historians of science and mathematics, teachers and students. It can therefore be recommended to a wide audience." (European Mathematical Society Newsletter, June, 2008)

"We welcome the book under review, a study of the Martin Schøyen collection ... . this collection include exemplars of virtually every known type of mathematical tablet, as well as some types of tablets that have never been published. ... Friberg's book will be invaluable for anyone studying Mesopotamian mathematics, as it provides so many more examples of mathematical ideas that were used by the scribes. ... Any good library in the history of mathematics should possess copies ... ." (Victor J. Katz, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2008 h)

Spis treści

Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- Documentation of Provenance.- Abbreviations.- How to Get a Better Understanding of Mathematical Cuneiform Texts.- Old Babylonian Arithmetical Hand Tablets.- Old Babylonian Arithmetical Table Texts.- Old Babylonian Metrological Table Texts.- Mesopotamian Weight Stones.- Neo-Sumerian Field Maps (Ur III).- An Old Sumerian Metro-Mathematical Table Text (Early Dynastic IIIa).- Old Babylonian Hand Tablets with Practical Mathematics.- Old Babylonian Hand Tablets with Geometric Exercises.- The Beginning and the End of the Sumerian King List.- Three Old Babylonian Mathematical Problem Texts from Uruk.- Three Problem Texts Not Belonging to Any Known Group of Texts.- App. 1. Subtractive Notations for Numbers in Mathematical Cuneiform Texts.- App. 2. The Old Babylonian Combined Multiplication Table.- App. 3. An Old Babylonian Combined Arithmetical Algorithm.- App. 4. Cuneiform Systems of Notations for Numbers and Measures.- App. 5. Old Babylonian Complete Metrological Tables.- App. 6. Metro-Mathematical Cuneiform Texts from the Third Millennium BC.- App. 7. CUNES 50-08-001. A Combined Metro-Mathematical Table Text (ED IIIb).- App. 8. Plimpton 322, a Table of Parameters for igi–igi.bi Problems.- App. 9. Many-Place Squares of Squares in Late Babylonian Mathematical Texts.- App. 10. Color Photos of Selected Texts.- Vocabulary for the MS Texts.- Index of Subjects.- Index of Texts.- References.

O autorze

The book is a broad survey of Babylonian mathematics with many new and surprising results. It is based on a large collection of previously unpublished mathematical cuneiform texts in the possession of a Norwegian collector, Martin Schoyen.

Blurb

This new text from Jöran Friberg, the leading expert on Babylonian mathematics, presents 130 previously unpublished mathematical clay tablets from the Norwegian Schøyen collection, and provides a synthesis of the author's most important work. Through a close study of these tablets, Friberg has made numerous amazing discoveries, including the first known examples of pre-Classical labyrinths and mazes, a new understanding of the famous table text Plimpton 322, and new evidence of Babylonian familiarity with sophisticated mathematical ideas and objects, such as the three-dimensional Pythagorean equation and the icosahedron.

In order to make the text accessible to the largest possible audience, the author has included an introductory chapter entitled, "How to get a better understanding of mathematical cuneiform texts." Throughout the text he avoids anachronisms and makes every effort to teach the reader to do the same. The approach in this book is inherently pedagogical, as Friberg illustrates all the steps of the process of interpretation and clearly explains the mathematical ideas, including terminology, metrological systems, and methods of calculation. Drawings and color photos of a large selection of tablets are also included. Particularly beautiful hand copies of the most complicated texts were made by Farouk Al-Rawi, professor of Ancient Languages and Archaeology at Baghdad University.

While the book is reader-friendly, it remains as detailed and exhaustive as possible. It is the most comprehensive treatment of a set of Babylonian mathematical texts ever published and will open up this subject to a new generation of students, mathematicians, and historians of science.

Jöran Friberg is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He has recently published the book Unexpected Links Between Egyptian and Babylonian Mathematics (World Scientific 2005), and its sequel Amazing Traces of a Babylonian Origin in Greek Mathematics (World Scientific 2007).