[LINK] {OT} Walk against War - sunday in sydney
Antony Barry
tony@tony-barry.emu.id.au
Sun, 23 Feb 2003 11:14:30 +1100
On Saturday, February 22, 2003, at 10:15 PM, Michael Still wrote:
> According to the excellent "Fermat's Last Theorem" book on Andrew
> Wiles'
> work, the Eygptions had an algorithm for the latout of fields, but
> didn't
> really understand how it worked, whilst Pythagoras came up with a
> generalised formula.
The Babylonians had Pythagorean triplets on clay tablets about
1800-165BC. In China the Chou Pei Suan Ching (The arithmetical
classics of the Gnomon and the circular paths of heaven) stated the
Pythagorean theorem and predated Pythagorus by some centuries.
George Gheverghese Joseph. "The crest of the peacock: non-European
roots of mathematics". Penguin, 1992.
Tony
phone : +61 2 6241 7659 | mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
mobile: +61 4 1242 0397 | http://tony-barry.emu.id.au