Solution of quadratic equations
Resolución de ecuaciones cuadráticas
- Date
- c. 1800 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Babylon, Mesopotamia (Iraq)
- Credited to
- Babylonian scribes (Old Babylonian period)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
Problem tablets show a general procedure equivalent to completing the square to find lengths and widths from area and perimeter. It is the first algebra, expressed in the form of a recipe.
The problems were formulated in words without symbols; the geometric interpretation (cut and paste) is defended by Jens Høyrup.
What it led to
- al-Khwarizmi's algebra
- the quadratic formula
- algorithmic methods
Built on
- Sexagesimal number systemc. 3000 BCE
- sexagesimal system
- area geometry
Made possible
- Liber embadorum (quadratic equations in Latin)1116-1145
- land division
- interest calculation