Clay Tablet

- UNSW Sydney scientists have discovered the purpose of a famous

3700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet, revealing it is the world's oldest
and most accurate trigonometric table, possibly used by ancient
mathematical scribes to calculate how to construct palaces and
temples and build canals.
- The new research shows the Babylonians beat the Greeks to the
invention of trigonometry - the study of triangles - by more than 1000
years and reveals an ancient mathematical sophistication that had
been hidden until now.
- Known as Plimpton 322, the small tablet was discovered in the early
1900s in what now southern Iraq by archaeologist is, academic,
diplomat and antiquities dealer Edgar Banks, the person on whom the
fictional character Indiana Jones was based.
- It has four columns and 15 rows of numbers written on it in the
cuneiform script of the time using a base 60, or sexagesimal, system.

Abacus
- An abacus is a calculation tool used by sliding counters along rods or
grooves, used to perform mathematical functions. In addition to
calculating the basic functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication
and division, the abacus can calculate roots up to the cubic degree.
- An abacus is a manual tool used to keep track of numbers and to
perform basic mathematical operations.
- Abaci has been in use in various parts of the world for over 4,000
years.
- Even in the modern digital age abaci remains popular for certain
applications in accounting, education, and for use in austere
environments.
- The Australian business journal Abacus takes its name from this
venerable tool.
Rhind Papyrus
- The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is one of the best-known examples
of ancient Egyptian mathematics. It is named after Alexander Henry
Rhind, a Scottish antiquarian, who purchased the papyrus in 1858 in
Luxor, Egypt; it was apparently found during illegal excavations in or
near the Ramesseum. It dates to around 1550 BC.
- The Rhind Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian mathematical document
written on papyrus, a paper-like substance. It dates from
approximately 1650 BCE and was signed by Ahmes, the scribe who
wrote it down. It is an important source for understanding Egyptian
mathematics and how it was used for practical purposes.
- Rhind papyrus, ancient Egyptian scroll bearing mathematical tables
and problems. This extensive document from ancient Egypt has been
the source of much information about Egyptian mathematics.

Sundial
- A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to
as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the
apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the
word, it consists of a flat plate (the dial) and a gnomon, which casts a
shadow onto the dial. As the Sun appears to move through the sky,
the shadow aligns with different hour-lines, which are marked on the
dial to indicate the time of day. The style is the time-telling edge of
the gnomon, though a single point or nodus may be used. The
gnomon casts a broad shadow; the shadow of the style shows the
time. The gnomon may be a rod, wire, or elaborately decorated metal
casting. The style must be parallel to the axis of the Earth's rotation
for the sundial to be accurate throughout the year. The style's angle
from horizontal is equal to the sundials geographical latitude.

Ishango Bone
- The Ishango bone, discovered at the "Fisherman Settlement" of
Ishango in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a bone tool and
possible mathematical device that dates to the Upper Paleolithic era.
The curved bone is dark brown in color, about 10 centimeters in
length, and features a sharp piece of quartz affixed to one end,
perhaps for engraving. Because the bone has been narrowed,
scraped, polished, and engraved to a certain extent, it is no longer
possible to determine what animal the bone belonged to, although it
is assumed to belong to a mammal.