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As well as arithmetical calculations, Babylonian mathematicians also developed algebraic methods of solving equations. Once again, these were based on pre-calculated tables. To solve a quadratic equation, the Babylonians essentially used the standard quadratic formula. They considered quadratic equations of the form:
Figure 4. Graphing calculator computation of one of the two roots of the quadratic equation 2x 2 + 4x − 4 = 0. Although the display shows only five significant figures of accuracy, the retrieved value of xc is 0.732050807569, accurate to twelve significant figures. A quadratic function without real root: y = (x − 5) 2 + 9.
The quadratic equation on a number can be solved using the well-known quadratic formula, which can be derived by completing the square. That formula always gives the roots of the quadratic equation, but the solutions are expressed in a form that often involves a quadratic irrational number, which is an algebraic fraction that can be evaluated ...
It is also used for graphing quadratic functions, deriving the quadratic formula, and more generally in computations involving quadratic polynomials, for example in calculus evaluating Gaussian integrals with a linear term in the exponent, [2] and finding Laplace transforms. [3] [4]
Plimpton 322 is a Babylonian clay tablet, believed to have been written around 1800 BC, that contains a mathematical table written in cuneiform script.Each row of the table relates to a Pythagorean triple, that is, a triple of integers (,,) that satisfies the Pythagorean theorem, + =, the rule that equates the sum of the squares of the legs of a right triangle to the square of the hypotenuse.
YBC 7289 is a Babylonian clay tablet notable for containing an accurate sexagesimal approximation to the square root of 2, the length of the diagonal of a unit square. This number is given to the equivalent of six decimal digits, "the greatest known computational accuracy ... in the ancient world". [ 1 ]
In numerical analysis, fixed-point iteration is a method of computing fixed points of a function.. More specifically, given a function defined on the real numbers with real values and given a point in the domain of , the fixed-point iteration is + = (), =,,, … which gives rise to the sequence,,, … of iterated function applications , (), (()), … which is hoped to converge to a point .
In stage 2, the well-attested Old Babylonian method of completing the square is used to solve what is effectively the system of equations b − a = 0.25, ab = 0.75. [6] Geometrically this is the problem of computing the lengths of the sides of a rectangle whose area A and side-length difference b − a are known, which was a recurring problem ...