Babylonian Mathematics

Abstract

IN the past six years our knowledge of the ancient Babylonian mathematics has been vastly increased, thanks mainly to the labours of Dr. Neugebauer. The impulse to his researches seems to have come from his attention having been directed to the fact that certain Sumerian and Babylonian texts from the National and University Library of Strassburg, published by C. Frank in 1928, contained six passages of mathematical content. These formed the subject of an article “Zur Geschichte der babylonischen Mathematik” in Part 1 (1929) of Division B (Studien) of the first volume of the series of “Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik, Astronomie und Physik”, of which the two volumes before us make up volume 3. Further articles followed, and in 1934 the author's results took definite shape in an admirable volume on “Vorgriechische Mathematik”, a notice of which appeared in NATURE of February 23, 1935, p. 283. The greater part of it deals with Babylonian, and the rest mainly with Egyptian, mathematics. The preface to it announced the author's intention to publish separately a collection of all the original texts known and accessible to him (most of them so far unpublished) with the view of giving chapter and verse for the conclusions arrived at. The present large volumes are the result.

Mathematische Keilschrift-Texte

Herausgegeben und bearbeitet von O. Neugebauer. (Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathe-matik, Astronomie und Physik, Abteilung A: Quellen, Band 3.) Teil 1: Texte. Pp. xii + 516. Teil 2: Register, Glossar, Nachtrage, Tafeln. Pp. iii + 64 + 69 plates. (Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935.) 128 gold marks.