The brilliance of Babylonian Mathematics
The achievements of Babylonian mathematics are still poorly recognised, but these were the people who treated numbers in the abstract way we do today, rather than as lengths, areas or volumes. This began before 2000 BC, and enabled them to develop formulas where a square could be added to a length. In particular they not only knew Pythagoras’s theorem but had a formula for producing three side lengths for a right-angled triangle, something the Greeks could not do well over a millennium and a half later. See my article in Engelsberg Ideas.
View publicationHow modern Numbers came to Europe
Our modern representation of numbers is the result of a complex process that can be traced back to the ancient Near East, via India and the Arab world — see my article in Engelsberg Ideas.
View publicationThe Pythagoras Myth
Contrary to popular belief, Pythagoras was by no means the discoverer of his eponymous theorem – it had already been known for over a thousand years. In popular perception however he became the source of the famous theorem about right-angled triangles: The Square on the Hypotenuse is equal to the Sum of the Squares on the Other Two Sides, a great result – serious mathematics indeed. But it has little to do with Pythagoras — see my article in Engelsberg Ideas.
View publicationDecolonise … maths?
If ‘decolonising maths’ means reassessing who did what, we need to put Greek geometry into perspective. Who invented algebra? And for modern arithmetic we have to thank the Sumerians, whose ethnicity and skin colour remains conveniently unknown. My article in The Critic, 7 July 2020
View publicationEureka Moments in Syracuse
In a charming Sicilian museum you can test the theories of antiquity’s greatest mathematician. See my article in Standpoint magazine, July/ August 2019, p. 59
View publicationCivilisation made concrete
The great ‘Hanging Garden’ was built by the ancient Assyrians, who were pioneering builders and engineers, Standpoint magazine, February 2019, p.70.
View publicationThe Great Expedition
In the mid-eighteenth century a Danish-German expedition sought to discover the roots of the Hebrew Bible in Arabia and Mesopotamia. History Today, June 2017, pp. 72–77.
View publicationThe Rise and Fall of Nimrud
The wanton destruction of this once great city in ancient Assyria leaves a hole in history. History Today, June 2015, p. 7.
View publicationAntediluvian Ark
Irving Finkel’s new book The Ark Before Noah:Decoding the Story of the Flood, analyses an ancient cuneiform tablet describing a circular Ark. What was its purpose? Standpoint Magazine, April 2014, p.73
View publicationThe Puzzle of Proto-Elamite
Describes new efforts at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford to decode the world’s oldest undeciphered language, History Today, January 2013, p. 6.
View publicationIt’s not elementary, my dear Watson
Compares the ancient belief in four elements to the modern belief in four elementary forces, Standpoint Magazine, October 2012, p. 68.
View publicationA light shining from Babylon
Compares the search for the Higgs boson to the Babylonian discovery of how to predict eclipses, Standpoint Magazine, May 2012, p 72.
View publicationThe genius of geometry
Places the mystery of Euclid’s life in a modern context, Standpoint Magazine, July/August 2011, p. 83.
View publicationNever too Old
Applauds the value of learning ancient Greek, Standpoint Magazine, May 2010, p. 13.
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