for y, then xwas found by xby/a. And
the Babylonians did all this without the
knowledge of algebra or the notations we
are familiar with today.
What other significant mathematical
contributionsdid the Babylonians
make?
Throughout the centuries, the Babylonians
made many mathematical contributions.
They were the earliest people to know
about the Pythagorean theorem, although
it was not known by that name. In fact,
Pythagoras, in his travels to the east, may
have learned about the theorem that would
eventually carry his name from the Babylo-
nians. In addition, the Babylonians pos-
sessed all the theorems of plane geometry
that the Greeks ascribed to Thales, includ-
ing the theorem eventually named after
him. They also may have been the most
skilled algebraists of their time, even
though the symbols and methods they
used were much different than our modern
algebraic notations and procedures.
EGYPTIAN NUMBERS
AND MATHEMATICS
Who were the Egyptians?
The Egyptians rose to prominence around 3000 BCEin the area we now call Egypt, but
their society was already advanced, urbanized, and expanding rapidly long before that
time. Although their civilization arose about the same time that words and numbers
were first written down in Mesopotamia, archeologists do not believe there was any
sharing between the two cultures. The Egyptians already had writing and written
numerals; plus, the Egyptian signs and symbols were taken exclusively from the flora
and fauna of the Nile River basin. In addition, the Egyptians developed the utensils for
writing signs about a thousand years earlier. 11
HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
Alexander the Great, depicted here in an 1899 paint-
ing of the Battle of Gaugamela, Iraq (331 BCE), by
artist Benjamin Ide Wheeler, conquered much of the
known world and brought an end to the Babylonian
civilization. The rise and fall of civilizations
throughout history did much to influence the devel-
opment of mathematics over the centuries. Library
of Congress.