Post AzALwm2ZZARKDHTQ2K by llewelly@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by llewelly@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #AzADKjvgATXj1nbOTI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T10:37:21Z
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Plimpton 322, the 3800 year old clay tablet with shockingly large, distinct Pythagorean* triples in cuneiform has become my touchstone for what is "old" in terms of human history. Every time I hear about some ancient event, or artifact I place it in my mind relative to Plimpton 322. If it was before Plimpton 322 it's "old! long long ago!" if it is after? Then it's just "somewhat old, but not THAT long ago."*integers that satisfy a**2 + b**2 = c**2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimpton_322
(DIR) Post #AzADat5Bu4vc3Akcls by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T10:40:18Z
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I don't claim to understand why Plimpton 322 exists. Was it a reference for surveying? Was it math homework? Was it a magical numbers game?I don't know. I do, however know some of the thinking the creators had to do to make it. I've gone through the same steps myself. I know how much work it would be to produce those numbers... would have taken a few days at least. Lots of scratch calculations and checking your work. Even the errors make sense, I see how they could happen.
(DIR) Post #AzADhi5r9xndzjJd2G by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T10:41:33Z
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So, I feel like I know the people who made this tablet just a little. That makes it a good benchmark in time.
(DIR) Post #AzAK8tl2V3AHiLvTkW by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T11:53:40Z
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@futurebird My pet hypothesis is that Plimpton 322 is a homework assignment. The student was given s and d , and expected to calculate l. Extra credit if you can prove Teacher made mistakes in the exercises.
(DIR) Post #AzALFxzdFd7wpbgazA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T12:06:10Z
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@llewelly OK, but why bake the homework to save it forever?I was thinking something more like a class project, a collection of the best triplets found by a group working hard on mathematics for some reason all those years ago.
(DIR) Post #AzALwm2ZZARKDHTQ2K by llewelly@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T12:13:54Z
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@futurebird I can't explain why the homework was baked, but then, I also can't explain why about half of my classes in high school and all of my classes in college featured at least one classmate who went and got their homework folder professionally bound. That never made sense to me either.
(DIR) Post #AzAMpfwZw2F5EQqhHs by leo_wallentin@mastodon.social
2025-10-13T12:23:47Z
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@futurebird @llewelly is it known to be intentionally baked? (Or could it have been an accidental fire?)
(DIR) Post #AzANWgEUjifEa1jeLY by TheBreadmonkey@beige.party
2025-10-13T12:31:33Z
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@futurebirdNot human history but whenever I get down in the dumps I think of this rock and remember that literally nothing matters 🥳https://beige.party/@TheBreadmonkey/114574012999442407
(DIR) Post #AzANbOALKuqPzi2SPo by raindrops_and_roses@mastodon.social
2025-10-13T12:32:24Z
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@futurebird @TheBreadmonkey This is *SO* cool. There are so many seriously wonderful things in the world that I'm amazed by even in these hard times.
(DIR) Post #AzANhHceZrMnRD5iiW by at@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-13T12:33:28Z
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@futurebird @llewelly I guess it wasn’t baked on purpose (not all tablets were baked, and when they were it was often because the building they were in burnt down), and a lot of tablets we do still have were actually homework for scribes in training (that’s why we have so many copies of certain works of Mesopotamian literature – you had to copy the reading list)
(DIR) Post #AzAOurOUzSNq6IVaEa by io@hci.social
2025-10-13T12:47:09Z
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@futurebird i apply the same logic with a fact i once heard. „we are closer to kleopatra than kleopatra is to the pyramids“. ancient egypt was ancient in ancient egypt 🤣
(DIR) Post #AzAP33Cgxymf2mtKMK by jones@todon.nl
2025-10-13T12:48:36Z
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@futurebird is it ~3800 years since some human group started writing? I've searched this before but found no answer.
(DIR) Post #AzAQFcgIzGNSVNIkqm by jones@todon.nl
2025-10-13T12:54:29Z
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@futurebird found it now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing - «Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognized – in Mesopotamia c. 3400 – c. 3100 BC, in Egypt c. 3250 BC, in China before c. 1250 BC, and in Mesoamerica before c. 1 AD. [...]».
(DIR) Post #AzAQFeIywwuRXcP9m4 by jones@todon.nl
2025-10-13T12:59:39Z
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@futurebird i used to think writing is the most powerful technology humans ever invented, one that still has the power to make this world become much better, because lies are more easily detected and exposed when they are written, and because it's easier to think when writing, than it is while talking, but the advent of "generative text" by the "AI", with its pollution of the infosphere, is quickly shrinking my trust.
(DIR) Post #AzAQFfUMY7bhDCjl9U by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-10-13T13:02:04Z
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@jones I still think it's very powerful. But I also think my stories are better than anything AI can produce. Do I have a big head? Perhaps. But, also I have to write the story because if I don't it won't exist, and AI can't make a story that captures what I'm getting at.
(DIR) Post #AzAQObyeyR1EvbAmI4 by jones@todon.nl
2025-10-13T13:03:44Z
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@futurebird i don't know well your stories, i mostly read what you write about animals and ants in particular, but maybe you include this with the term "stories" :)
(DIR) Post #AzASpdB8obKkNg1S9g by pretergeek@mstdn.social
2025-10-13T13:31:00Z
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@futurebird This is the artsy version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Warka
(DIR) Post #AzAdxvRZtAIuqErtcu by donray@mastodon.online
2025-10-13T15:35:45Z
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@futurebird Here's an article from Columbia University (the institution that has custody of the tablet) that gives a little more of the history of the Plimpton 322 tablet. https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/babylon-revisited
(DIR) Post #AzApFLyZawpLY3oYUK by donray@mastodon.online
2025-10-13T17:41:28Z
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@futurebird Here’s an interesting passage from the article:“Plimpton 322 was uncovered in Iraq at the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Larsa around 1920. After World War I, as the Allies carved up the Ottoman Empire, speculators swarmed to plunder the region’s ancient treasures for museums and libraries. Among these adventurers was Edgar James Banks, an archaeologist who climbed Mount Ararat in search of Noah’s ark and was a model for the fictional character Indiana Jones.”
(DIR) Post #AzApI9aq5fEK0q33eS by paregorios@hcommons.social
2025-10-13T17:42:41Z
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@futurebird FWIW: https://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/before-pythagoras/items/plimpton-322/andhttps://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/before-pythagoras/items/ybc-7289/
(DIR) Post #AzBTuZY81vuDgXeeMy by voidampersand@sfba.social
2025-10-14T01:17:49Z
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@futurebird The oldest surviving fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh is 4000 years old. It is a fantastic story and I highly recommend reading one of the better translations. It is about the joys of civilization, and the risks of arrogance and unchecked power. Still very meaningful today. So yeah, not that long ago.
(DIR) Post #AzC5ZghW2iNI2eVvaS by woo@fosstodon.org
2025-10-14T08:19:49Z
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@futurebird Thanks for that. I've been learning about the relevance of the sexagesimal number system to Western music theory. It's fun that the Pythagorean triples are so much older than Pythagoras too.
(DIR) Post #AzELBB4TyaqKZqVjgu by mytwobits01@freeradical.zone
2025-10-15T10:24:06Z
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@futurebird The scribe obviously started with *much* too big a stylus. 😉
(DIR) Post #AzEMAO8xzKLuminP3g by mytwobits01@freeradical.zone
2025-10-15T10:35:11Z
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@futurebird Dissertation? 🙂