Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than Pythagoras
Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than Pythagoras
It predates Pythagoras by over 1,000 years.
![Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than Pythagoras](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/86c72f6e-5cb4-4482-ba50-9df1e5ab35cf.png?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Study math for long enough and you will likely have cursed Pythagoras's name, or said "praise be to Pythagoras" if you're a bit of a fan of triangles.
But while Pythagoras was an important historical figure in the development of mathematics, he did not figure out the equation most associated with him (a2 + b2 = c2). In fact, there is an ancient Babylonian tablet (by the catchy name of IM 67118) which uses the Pythagorean theorem to solve the length of a diagonal inside a rectangle. The tablet, likely used for teaching, dates from 1770 BCE – centuries before Pythagoras was born in around 570 BCE.
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