Babylonians Vs Greek

Ancient mathematics, although having minor differences due to the needs and interest of the various cultures, were very much similar because there was a lot of knowledge that passed through the ages. However two of these ancient cultures that I feel contrasted the most and had very significant contributions to the field of mathematics were the Greeks and the Babylonians. The Babylonians based their math very much around necessity while the Greeks expanded into something beyond just necessity and incorporated areas such as philosophy into their studies of the field. the Babylonians, had a lot of skill and interest astronomy and had a need to devise calendars with increasing, took down the rabbit hole of the theoretical side of mathematics

Through these areas of the Babylonians managed many great mathematical feats. They developed a formative means for dealing with fractions and developing a more practical base ten arithmetic that was positional and left rather extensive records on clay tablets. However arguably one of their greatest contributions to mathematics was their complex usage of a sexagesimal place-valued system in addition to a decimal system which is very much like the one we still use to this day; They counted in both groups of ten and sixty. Because of the flexibility of a sexagismal system with fractions, the Babylonians were strong in both algebra and number theory. Also discovered in clay tablets, was means of calculating of compound interest, squares and square roots. The sexagismal system the Babylonians created are also still employed today (our system for telling time revolves around a sexagesimal system) as well using the base

The Greeks were also the first to pull away from just seeing math as a means to solve problems but incorporated there study of philosophy into it and began work in the realm of pure mathematics and believed that all mathematical knowledge could be derived from reasoning and deduction. Also unlike the Babylonians, they based their number system around a much more practical and familiar system of numbers: numbers with a base of 5's and 10's. Much of Greek mathematics was centered around geometry. one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece ; Thales, who lived on the Ionian coast of Asian Minor in the first half of the 6th Century BC, was considered to have been the first to put fourth guidelines for the abstract development of geometry, although what we know of his work now seems quite elementary (such as right triangles). One of the more significant contributors to modern geometry and mathematics in general was Pythagoras, although he didn't necessarily create the theorem he was credited for (that should have gone to the Babylonians), he further developed in and made several other major contributions. convinced that the universe could be described in terms of whole numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Pythagorean deduced the theorem based on his name and through it techniques for abstraction, generalization and deductive