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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:
Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 with annotations. The diagonal displays an approximation of the square root of 2 in four sexagesimal figures, 1 24 51 10, which is good to about six decimal digits. 1 + 24/60 + 51/60 2 + 10/60 3 = 1.41421296... The tablet also gives an example where one side of the square is 30, and the resulting diagonal is 42 ...
The ratio p/q takes its greatest value, 12/5=2.4, in Row 1 of the table, and is therefore always less than +, a condition which guarantees that p 2 − q 2 is the long leg and 2pq is the short leg of the triangle and which, in modern terms, implies that the angle opposite the leg of length p 2 − q 2 is less than 45°.
Equally important as the use or lack of symbolism in algebra was the degree of the equations that were addressed. Quadratic equations played an important role in early algebra; and throughout most of history, until the early modern period, all quadratic equations were classified as belonging to one of three categories.
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.
A Clemson win could mean two berths for the conference, but only if the playoff committee keeps an 11-2 SMU team ahead of a 9-3 Alabama team that jumped Miami (10-2) on Tuesday in the next-to-last ...
Most Southerners are a little bit in love with their slow cookers. The small appliances have an honored spot at holiday meals, they come along to tailgates, and when filled with hot appetizers ...
A method analogous to piece-wise linear approximation but using only arithmetic instead of algebraic equations, uses the multiplication tables in reverse: the square root of a number between 1 and 100 is between 1 and 10, so if we know 25 is a perfect square (5 × 5), and 36 is a perfect square (6 × 6), then the square root of a number greater than or equal to 25 but less than 36, begins with ...