Babylonian Word Problems

 

I do not think that concepts, such as practicality, generality, abstraction, pure, or applied math, rely on contemporary algebra. I think that the Babylonians show us that these concepts are independent of contemporary algebra. As I wrote that last sentence, I thought 'what about pure math'. I am actually not sure whether the Babylonians showed that algebra is not necessary for pure math, but my gut is telling me that it probably isn't. However the Babylonians seem to demonstrate that these qualities of math have been around for a long time. It is surprising to think that 'impractical' word problems have been around so long. I am still kind of in disbelief that math problems seem to be introduced shortly after the concept of math itself. Furthermore, it is even more surprising that this tradition of learning math has been continued on for millenniums. This historical knowledge speaks to how practicality and abstraction seem to naturally come out of math, even for Babylonians. In comparison, to other historical groups, such as the Greeks, it is interesting to think why Babylonians seemed to prefer this more generalizable and applied math, whereas the Greeks seemed to prefer more pure or art math. My speculation is that this difference may have to do with the values of the culture at the time, as my preconceptions of Babylonians is that they were rather industrial and the Greeks were famous for their art and philosophy.