Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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:
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.
The rate of convergence depends on the absolute value of the ratio between the two roots: the farther that ratio is from unity, the more quickly the continued fraction converges. When the monic quadratic equation with real coefficients is of the form x 2 = c, the general solution described above is useless because division by zero is not well ...
The solutions of the quadratic equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0 correspond to the roots of the function f(x) = ax 2 + bx + c, since they are the values of x for which f(x) = 0. If a , b , and c are real numbers and the domain of f is the set of real numbers, then the roots of f are exactly the x - coordinates of the points where the graph touches the ...
Given a quadratic polynomial of the form + + it is possible to factor out the coefficient a, and then complete the square for the resulting monic polynomial. Example: + + = [+ +] = [(+) +] = (+) + = (+) + This process of factoring out the coefficient a can further be simplified by only factorising it out of the first 2 terms.
A table of constants that includes the same approximation of the square root of 2 as YBC 7289 is the tablet YBC 7243. The constant appears on line 10 of the table along with the inscription, "the diagonal of a square". [2] [4] [5] The mathematical significance of this tablet was first recognized by Otto E. Neugebauer and Abraham Sachs in 1945.
The golden ratio φ and its negative reciprocal −φ −1 are the two roots of the quadratic polynomial x 2 − x − 1. The golden ratio's negative −φ and reciprocal φ −1 are the two roots of the quadratic polynomial x 2 + x − 1. The golden ratio is also an algebraic number and even an algebraic integer.
[4] 2100 BC: The concept of area is first recognized in Babylonian clay tablets, [5] and 3-dimensional volume is discussed in an Egyptian papyrus. This begins the study of geometry. 2100 BC: Quadratic equations, in the form of problems relating the areas and sides of rectangles, are solved by Babylonians. [5]