The History of Mathematical Proof in Ancient Traditions

420 Christine proust

Notes to pp. 418–19

Section 4: Read 16.40 in place of 15.40.

Section 5: Read 9 in place of 8.

Section 11: Read 35.33.20 in place of 36.23.20.

Section 19: Read 19 in place of 18.

* Section 13 to Section 21: Th e factor chosen is 3.45 (from the reciprocal 16). I could

not set it in bold type because it does not obviously constitute the fi nal part of the

number, as in the other cases. However, if 8 is decomposed into the sum 5+3, the

factor 3.45 is scarcely hidden. (For more precise details, see the part of the article

devoted to the analysis of the entirety of this text.)

Appendix ii Ni 10241

Old Babylonian school tablet from Nippur, conserved in Istanbul, copy

Proust 2007.

Obverse

4.26.[40]

its reciprocal 13.30

Reverse

4.26.40 9

41 sic^ 1.30

13.30

Bibliography

Britton , J. P. ( 1991 –3) ‘ A table of 4th powers and related texts from Seleucid

Babylon ’, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 43–5 : 71 –87.

Britton , J. P., Proust , C. and Schnider , S. ( 2011 ) ‘ Plimpton 322: a review and a

diff erent perspective ’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 65 : 519 –66.