The 3,700-year-old tablet from Babylon has been on display in Istanbul for years. An Australian mathematician has studied the tablet and discovered that it is the oldest known example of applied geometry.
According to Australian scientists, the Babylonians discovered trigonometry a thousand years before the famous Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras. The figures on the 3,700-year-old Si.427 tablet, revealed that it was used for land scale. The ancient Babylonian tablet, called Si.427, dated to 1900 and 1600 BC, was excavated in 1894 at Sippar in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. However, the secrets of the tablet was not discovered until it was analyzed by Dr. Daniel Mansfield of the University of New South Wales in Australia. Mansfield explained that it is the earliest known example of applied geometry on a 3,700-year-old clay tablet.
“WE DON'T AGREE THAT IT'S THE FIRST AND ONLY”
“It's an interesting situation. We are talking about an artifact that has been on display for nearly 20 years. The tablet is indeed a very important tablet. It was discovered in 1894 by the work of a French archaeologist under the direction of Osman Hamdi Bey. It is associated with geometry because of the geometric shapes on it. From the University of New South Wales in Australia, Dr. It came to the fore after Daniel Mansfield's research was done in our country. It is associated with geometry because of the geometric shapes on it. Although it is thought to be the first mathematical tablet from the geometrical details on it, we archaeologists know that it dates back to earlier times. It was associated with the Pythagorean theorem in research. Based on this, it is claimed that this tablet is a cadastral document and benefited from the science of mathematics. We do not agree that it is the first and that it is the only one” said Director of the Istanbul Archeology Museum Rahmi Aysal.
