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Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts / by Mathieu Ossendrijver
Resource type: Ressourcentyp: Buch (Online)Book (Online)Language: English Series: Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences | SpringerLink BücherPublisher: New York, NY : Springer New York, 2012Description: Online-Ressource (XXVI, 615p. 207 illus., 68 illus. in color, digital)ISBN:- 9781461437826
- 520
- 510.9
- QA21-27
Contents:
Summary: Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations and symbols -- 1. Procedure texts -- 2. Mathematical concepts – from numbers to computational systems -- 3. Planets -- 4. Moon -- 5. Critical editions -- Appendices -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Indices.Summary: Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts contains a new analysis of the procedure texts of Babylonian mathematical astronomy. These cuneiform tablets, excavated in Babylon and Uruk and dating from 350‒50 BCE, contain computational instructions that represent the earliest known form of mathematical astronomy of the ancient world. The targeted readership includes assyriologists, historians of science, astronomers and others with an interest in Babylonian astronomy. The book includes new translations of all 108 available tablets that are based on a modern approach incorporating recent insights from assyriology and translation science. All translations are accompanied by commentaries and photographs of the tablets. The preceding chapters are devoted to documentary, lexical, semantic, mathematical and astronomical aspects of the procedure texts. Special attention is given to issues of mathematical representation, a topic that had previously been largely ignored. Mathematical concepts are presented in a didactic fashion, setting out from the most elementary ones (numbers and elementary operations) to more complex ones (algorithms and computational systems). Chapters devoted to the planets and the Moon contain updated and expanded reconstructions and astronomical interpretations of the algorithms. The author intends to continue his study of Babylonian mathematical astronomy with a new publication devoted to the Tabular Texts—the end products of Babylonian mathematical astronomy, computed with algorithms that are formulated in the present volume. The upcoming volume will contain new editions and reconstructions of over 250 tabular texts and a new philological, astronomical, and mathematical analysis of these texts.PPN: PPN: 1651475776Package identifier: Produktsigel: ZDB-2-SEB | ZDB-2-SXMS | ZDB-2-SMA
Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts; Preface; Acknowledgements; Contents; Abbreviations and symbols; Bibliographical abbreviations; Assyriological abbreviations; Astronomical abbreviations and symbols; Names of the planets, zodiacal signs, months, regnal years and units; Chapter 1 Procedure texts; 1.1 The corpus of mathematical astronomy; 1.1.1 History; 1.1.2 Purpose and applications; 1.1.3 Discovery and historiography; Phase one: the first translations (1881-1935); Phase two: the standard editions (1935-1990); Phase three: new approaches and broadening views (1990-)
1.2 Selection of the texts1.3 Archaeological and archival aspects; 1.3.1 Babylon; Astronomical tablets in the 'Babylon collection' of the British Museum; Tablets in the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Berlin) and other museums; The astronomers in Babylon; 1.3.2 Uruk; The library of the Res temple; Other libraries with astronomical texts; 1.4 Physical characteristics; Tablets with mainly procedures; Tablets with procedures and tabular content; References to tablets and wooden boards; Series of procedure texts; Composition of the tablets; 1.5 Transmission and evolution
1.6 Approaching procedure texts1.6.1 Translation issues; Translating Babylonian mathematics and mathematical astronomy; A perspective from translation theory; Implications for the present study; 1.6.2 Procedure texts and 'scientific discourse'; 1.7 Didactical, rhetorical and comparative aspects; 1.7.1 Rhetorical aspects; 1.7.2 Other Mesopotamian instructional texts from the first millennium BC; Chapter 2 Mathematical concepts - from numbers to computational systems; 2.1 The sexagesimal place-value system; The zero and its manifestations; 2.2 Arithmetical operations
2.2.1 Identity of quantities and symmetry of operations2.2.2 Addition; 2.2.2.1 'To add'; 2.2.2.2 'To append'; 2.2.2.3 'To accumulate'; 2.2.3 Subtraction; 2.2.3.1 'To tear out'; 2.2.3.2 'To subtract'; 2.2.3.3 'To diminish'; 2.2.3.4 'To deduct'; 2.2.4 Multiplication; 2.2.4.1 'To go Q1 times Q2'; 2.2.4.2 'To raise'; 2.2.5 Division and reciprocals; 2.2.6 The copula u, 'and', as a placeholder for arithmetical operations; 2.2.7 Diachronic overview of arithmetical terms and a comparison with mathematical texts; 2.3 Other elementary operations; 2.3.1 Introducing initial data; 2.3.2 Conditions
2.3.2.1 Conditions involving a threshold value2.3.2.2 Conditions involving the change of a quantity or the relative position; 2.3.3 Coordination; 2.4 Additive and subtractive numbers; History of subtractive numbers; Additive and subtractive numbers as numerical differences; Additive and subtractive numbers of undetermined magnitude; Arithmetical operations performed on additive and subtractive numbers; 2.5 Coordinate systems; 2.5.1 The event frame; 2.5.2 Temporal coordinates; 2.5.2.1 The calendar; 2.5.2.2 Time degrees; 2.5.2.3 Mean tithis; 2.5.3 Angular coordinates
2.5.3.1 Zodiacal position (B)
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