One of the foremost workers in the area of premodern science presents the standard nontechnical coverage of Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics and astronomy and their transmission into the Hellenistic world, including the especially interesting, surprising sophistication of Babylonian mathematics
The Babylonians were good guys. They had a sophisticated, table-based system of arithmetic, they could solve quadratic equations, etc. For all this we respect them, but for Plimpton 322 we love them--surely only true connoisseurs of numbers would produce a table of Pythagorean triples. The Egyptians on the other hand disappoint us. Their arithmetic "is probably best described as a retarding force" and their astronomy "remained through all its history on an exceedingly crude level" (p. 80). To be fair, their..
An `old fashioned' text where the notes are as important as the body. The `Method' is the `As it really was' school. The author was a German mathematician who was drawn to Mesopotamian mathematics and astronomy early in the 20th century. Where used Greek or Latin is translated. The more modern European languages of French and especially German are extensively referred to in the notes but NOT in the body.
