If you check history books, it will tell you that the Greeks invented the mathematical science of trigonometry. But an ancient stone tablet just changed everything we thought we knew.
Researchers in Australia have analyzed a 3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet, revealing that the ancient inhabitants of modern-day Iraq used a form of trigonometry even more advanced than the modern-day version. The tablet also predates the previously believed Greek discovery of trigonometry by about 1,500 years.
"Our research shows it’s a trigonometric table so unfamiliar and advanced that in some respects it’s superior to modern trigonometry," Dr. Daniel Mansfield, a mathematician at the University of New South Wales said, according to The Independent.
Mansfield suggested that the Babylonians developed the trigonometric table to assist their architects in designing their city's major buildings. The ruins of the ancient city of Babylon, which ruled the massive Mesopotamian empire, is located about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad.
The city's famous hanging gardens were known as a wonder of the ancient world, and historians believe the city was the largest city in the world from 1770 to 1670 B.C. as well as from 609 to 539 B.C. It was quite likely the world's first city to surpass a population of 200,000 people.
The tablet – known as Plimpton 322 – would have been "a powerful tool that could have been used for surveying fields or architectural calculations to build palaces, temples or step pyramids," Mansfeld explained.
And beyond being the world's oldest and most advanced trigonometric table, the ancient tablet is also the most complete.
“The Babylonians unique approach to arithmetic and geometry means this is not only the world’s oldest trigonometric table, it’s also the only completely accurate trigonometric table on record," Mansfeld said.
The researcher went even further, saying the ancient table may actually have important implications for modern-day scientific research.
"It’s rare that the ancient world teaches us something new. After 3,000 years, Babylonian mathematics might just be coming back into fashion," he said.
Archaeologist, diplomat and antique dealer Edgar Banks – who was the inspiration for the Hollywood character Indiana Jones – first discovered the Plimpton 322 tablet in the early 1900s.
Since the tablet was written in ancient cuneiform script, analysis of the information was not immediately clear. In the 1980s, some researchers had suggested Plimpton 322 contained a trigonometric record, but this speculation was dismissed.
With the revelations of the new research, everything changes.
Traditionally, Greek astronomer Hipparchus is credited with inventing trigonometry around 120 B.C. However, this tablet predates the astronomer by over 1,000 years.
Professor Norman Wildberger, who worked with Mansfeld on the research, also believes there is a lot more to discover from the ancient inhabitants of Iraq.
"A treasure-trove of Babylonian tablets exists, but only a fraction of them have been studied yet. The mathematical world is only waking up to the fact that this ancient but very sophisticated mathematical culture has much to teach us," Wildberger said.