Article ID: CBB820929403

Bisecting the Trapezoid: Tracing the Origins of a Babylonian Computation of Jupiter’s Motion (2018)

unapi

Between ca. 400 and 50 BCE, Babylonian astronomers used mathematical methods for predicting ecliptical positions, times and other phenomena of the moon and the planets. Until recently these methods were thought to be of a purely arithmetic nature. A new interpretation of four Babylonian astronomical procedure texts with geometric computations has challenged this view. On these tablets, Jupiter’s total distance travelled along the ecliptic during a certain interval of time is computed from the area of a trapezoidal figure representing the planet’s changing daily displacement along the ecliptic. Moreover, the time when Jupiter reaches half the total distance is computed by bisecting the trapezoid into two smaller ones of equal area. In the present paper these procedures are traced back to precursors from Old Babylonian mathematics (1900–1700 BCE). Some implications of the use of geometric methods by Babylonian astronomers are also explored.

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Authors & Contributors
Steele, John M.
Carman, Christián Carlos
Castaldi, Francesco
De Jong, Teije
Hide, Raymond
Høyrup, Jens
Journals
Archive for History of Exact Sciences
Acta Historica Astronomiae
Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Environmental History
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Concepts
Astronomy
Jupiter
Cuneiform inscriptions
Solar system; planets
Moons of other planets
Celestial mechanics
People
Neugebauer, Otto
Galilei, Galileo
Agucchi, Giovanni Battista
Euclid
Hansen, Peter Andreas
Hooke, Robert
Time Periods
17th century
19th century
20th century, late
Ancient
20th century, early
Modern
Places
Ancient Near and Middle East: Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Persia
Babylon (extinct city)
Mesopotamia
Uruk (extinct city)
France
Italy
Institutions
Royal Society of London
Observatoire de Paris
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