Post AsxtAtlnTTfwqInfDU by leon_p_smith@ioc.exchange
(DIR) More posts by leon_p_smith@ioc.exchange
(DIR) Post #AsxoAVYH18PTxcT8Ou by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-10T23:46:14Z
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I understand why someone would write down the information in Plimpton 322. It's too much to commit to memory and perfect right triangles are very useful. The mystery of the list is who made it and why. My thinking would be it's from some kind of architecture/writing/math schoolEveryone would know about 3,4,5 but everyone would also know that larger triples could make more accurate right angles, and they would accumulate in such a place as people tried to beat the previous record.
(DIR) Post #AsxoI3ksFUZC4Dxo12 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-10T23:47:38Z
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A 9th grader can test if a pair of numbers "work" ... but coming up with new sets that aren't just multiple of previous numbers would be impressive. And how would you know you found a new one if you didn't have a list?Nerds! Nerds! Nerds have always existed.
(DIR) Post #Asxp5lWaIsPI0OyudE by promovicz@chaos.social
2025-04-10T23:56:36Z
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@futurebird Now, there's OEIS - the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Many two-dimensional things can also be represented as a sequence, so they are in there as well. https://oeis.org/
(DIR) Post #AsxpSQr3JsbcYkMb68 by johnefrancis@cosocial.ca
2025-04-11T00:00:36Z
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@futurebird first, rock nerds for 100k years. Then metal and clay nerds for a few thousand. Then the rock nerds and metal nerds started hooking up and made integrated microcircuit nerds. Etc
(DIR) Post #Asxr0DtC8CAY9E2fTc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-11T00:18:01Z
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@stuartyeates But why give a leg and the diagonal... and not two legs?
(DIR) Post #AsxsK0bTKy5mgjkcNs by lePetomaneAncien@fosstodon.org
2025-04-11T00:32:47Z
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@futurebird @stuartyeates Fascinating to speculate. Since it works equally well either way it could easily be just a matter of local convention. With no clear advantage, leg-leg vs leg-hypotenuse could be a random choice now written in stone, er I mean clay. Or perhaps some previous technique made this the logical extension. Or maybe just as the Pythagoreans seemed to have a religious affection for right angles, the Mesopotamians had a tabu against them and this was a way of finessing around it.
(DIR) Post #AsxsPBWy8YDs1j73Qm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-04-11T00:33:44Z
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@lePetomaneAncien @stuartyeates This tablet predates the pythagoreans by like 2000 years!
(DIR) Post #AsxtAtlnTTfwqInfDU by leon_p_smith@ioc.exchange
2025-04-11T00:42:19Z
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@futurebird why would larger triples help construct more accurate right triangles? I mean, I suppose it might depend on other factors, but my intuition says that there'd be a lot of merit to sticking to a 3-4-5.