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Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml )  to Science@lemmy.ml · 2 years ago

Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than Pythagoras

www.iflscience.com

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Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than Pythagoras

www.iflscience.com

Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml )  to Science@lemmy.ml · 2 years ago
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  • cross-posted to:
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It predates Pythagoras by over 1,000 years.
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  • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔 ( GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca ) 
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    2 years ago

    What I would like to know is if tablets like this are being scanned digitally into three dimensions so that they can be reproduced. I feel like everything we find from antiquity needs to be scanned this way. With humans constantly going to war destroying history, I’d hate the idea of losing things like this forever.

    UPDATE: And thus a journey down the interwebs rabbit hole begins. I need better internet and PC to check this out more later, but answering my own question, here’s the entrance to the rabbit hole should others wish to venture with a few examples:

    • Smithsonian Institution: The Smithsonian has a vast collection of 3D scanned artifacts available online, including prehistoric tools and sculptures https://3d.si.edu/.
    • Europeana: This digital platform features 3D scans of cultural heritage objects from across Europe https://pro.europeana.eu/project/3d-content-in-europeana.
    • Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI): This non-profit organization promotes the use of 3D scanning for cultural heritage preservation https://www.culturalheritageimaging.org/.
    • billgamesh ( billgamesh@lemmy.ml ) 
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      2 years ago

      There’s also the https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/about Obviously, losing a dimension isn’t great but still pretty cool

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns] ( uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
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    2 years ago

    This makes a strong case on the discovery side of the discovery vs. invention controversy.

    Ironically, my dad idolized Pythagoras and the notion of discovering a scientific fundamental to be remembered for thousands of years, for which the secret is not to actually do science, but raise a cult of scientists who attribute their inventions to you. Like Thomas Edison.

    • No1 ( No1@aussie.zone ) 
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      2 years ago

      raise a cult

      *cough* Elon Musk *cough*

  • smoothbrain coldtakes ( canis_majoris@lemmy.ca ) 
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    2 years ago

    Cool but is there a better source on this than “I fucking love science”?

    • dutchkimble ( dutchkimble@lemy.lol ) 
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      2 years ago

      https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/jt.2009.16

      This paper was sourced in the article

    • Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml ) OP
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      2 years ago

      Wikipedia, Springer is even worse, the company of tabloid press.

      • Successful_Try543 ( Successful_Try543@feddit.de ) 
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        2 years ago

        “Springer Science” (scientific journals and books) is not to be confused with “Axel Springer” (Bild, Welt, politico).

        • Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml ) OP
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          2 years ago

          But is from the same group, like Nestle in food.

          • zaphod ( zaphod@sopuli.xyz ) 
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            No, one is Axel Springer (tabloid shit), the other is Julius Springer (science stuff, founded around 100 years before the other Springer), they’re not related.

            • Successful_Try543 ( Successful_Try543@feddit.de ) 
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              2 years ago

              To cite the famous cabaret artist Volker Pispers talking about the Bild gives a good impression in what it is:

              That filthy newspaper that is so disgusting that you insult dead fish if you wrap it in it.

          • MaggiWuerze ( MaggiWuerze@feddit.de ) 
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            No? As far as I can see they have no connection.

  • Juice ( Juice@midwest.social ) 
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    2 years ago

    I thought it was pretty well established that Pythagoras didn’t invent it, he was just the leader of a Math and Murder cult so he stole it

    • SoleInvictus ( SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
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      “Math and Murder Cult” sounds metal as hell. I’d join.

  • billgamesh ( billgamesh@lemmy.ml ) 
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    2 years ago

    Cuneiform scripts were frequently coppied by scribes, so the theorem could be even older

    • Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml ) OP
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      2 years ago

      I think that this theorem is at least as old as the pyramids.

      • billgamesh ( billgamesh@lemmy.ml ) 
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        2 years ago

        The recent “Fall of Civilizations” podcast talks a lot about the history of the pyramids. They may still have known a lot about geometery, but the slopes and angles involved in the pyramid building seem to have been trial and error as much as anything

        • Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml ) OP
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          The pyraamids are way more complex and accurate as been build only by trial and error. It’s architects knew exactly what they were doing and also geometric theorema way more complex as the one of “Phytagoras”, as shown also in other ancient buildings, which are still difficult to reproduce by modern architects.

          • billgamesh ( billgamesh@lemmy.ml ) 
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            What makes you say that? I’m not an expert. Accurate geometry or not, the pyramids are pretty cool. What about them means it couldn’t have been trial and error?

            https://www.si.edu/spotlight/ancient-egypt/pyramid

            About halfway up, however, the angle of incline decreases from over 51 degrees to about 43 degrees, and the sides rise less steeply, causing it to be known as the Bent Pyramid. The change in angle was probably made during construction to give the building more stability

            • Zerush ( Zerush@lemmy.ml ) OP
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              Yes, the bent pyramid, but that say nothing, maybe simply a design of an bad architect. They always exist, even today.

              • billgamesh ( billgamesh@lemmy.ml ) 
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                There are records of why it was bent though. It was one of the first pyramids. The king wanted it very tall and steep. he ended up being burried in a pyramid with less slope. Do you have any archeological evidence of complex geometry being used?

                Again, the pyramids are an impressive feat of craftsmanship and the organization of labor, but does that mean they employed the pythagorean theorem?

                They may very well have known geometry, or at least developed during the course of their civilization but I don’t think the pyramids represent sufficient evidence for them definitely knowing the pythagorean theorem

                edit: also if you haven’t heard the podcast, i recommend it. It’s pretty cool

  • मुक्त ( mukt@lemmy.ml ) 
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    2 years ago

    Isn’t this common knowledge that the Indians knew the theorem well before Pythagorus?

    • nova_ad_vitum ( nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca ) 
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      Yes and also I have a hard time believing the builders if the great pyramid didn’t understand it in some capacity either. They just didn’t have symbolic algebra to express it the way we do .

      • मुक्त ( mukt@lemmy.ml ) 
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        There are mentions of pythagorian triplets in pyramid era Egypt, and in all fairness, ancient Greeks didn’t have symbolic algebra either - it is a fairly recent form of expression.

        And, as far as I know, ancient Indians were actually writing mathematical expressions in full prose form - word problems et al.

    • Birds Books and Bullshit ( NanoBookReview@zirk.us ) 
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      deleted by creator

      • मुक्त ( mukt@lemmy.ml ) 
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        2 years ago

        Given what other comments are saying about him (cult leader appropriating works of others), I think the west/europe would do well not to associate themselves with him.

  • DAMunzy ( DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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    2 years ago

    This is one of the reasons why we shouldn’t name things after people.

    • Muffi ( Muffi@programming.dev ) 
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      This, and the fact that most stuff is invented by teams and not individuals. I think our tendency to name after a single person helps keep the hero/savior/Messiah complex of western society alive, and blinds us to the power of community and cooperation. It’s like “individual-washing” the past.

  • MonkderDritte ( MonkderDritte@feddit.de ) 
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    2 years ago

    And garden of eden as well as the story with a baby in a basket in Nil, are already in Atrahasis epos, from which Gilgamesh epos copied btw.

  • anar ( anarchist@lemmy.ml ) 
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    2 years ago

    Ok so

  • katy ✨ ( cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
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    2 years ago

    yah but pythagoras is the new bob

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