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Paleo-Babylonian

Plimpton 322

Plimpton 322: calculate before Pythagoras

Fifteen rows of numbers open a discussion of how the scribes worked.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

PHOTOGRAPH OF ORIGINAL · Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York · CC BY 4.0, through article license; figure without express exclusion · NATIVE RESOLUTION 1063 × 730 PX

Documentary original · Exact correspondence

Photograph of the original tablet: Plimpton 322. Photograph by Andrew Kelly, courtesy of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University; figure 1 from Daniel F. Mansfield, Plimpton 322: A Study of Rectangles (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0, CC BY 4.0. Documentary photography at native resolution 1063 × 730 px. No artificial enlargement or invented detail; zoom preserves that limitation.

Andrew Kelly · Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York · Inventory: Plimpton Cuneiform 322 · CC BY 4.0, through the article license; figure without express exclusion

Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗
Photograph of the original tablet: Plimpton 322. Photograph by Andrew Kelly, courtesy of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University; figure 1 from Daniel F. Mansfield, Plimpton 322: A Study of Rectangles (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0, CC BY 4.0.
PHOTOGRAPH OF ORIGINAL · Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York · CC BY 4.0, through article license; figure without express exclusion · NATIVE RESOLUTION 1063 × 730 PX

Documentary original · Exact correspondence

Photograph of the original tablet: Plimpton 322. Photograph by Andrew Kelly, courtesy of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University; figure 1 from Daniel F. Mansfield, Plimpton 322: A Study of Rectangles (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0, CC BY 4.0. Documentary photography at native resolution 1063 × 730 px. No artificial enlargement or invented detail; zoom preserves that limitation.

Andrew Kelly · Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York · Inventory: Plimpton Cuneiform 322 · CC BY 4.0, through the article license; figure without express exclusion

Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

History and context

The tablet preserves four columns and fifteen rows of numbers related to sides and diagonals of rectangles, equivalent to relationships that we today associate with right triangles. It predates Pythagoras, but that does not mean that his scribes used our notation or our way of teaching geometry.

Its function is still under discussion: teaching exercises and relationships with surveying have been proposed. Here it can be compared with Si.427, already present in the museum. A calculation tablet and a land document are not the same type of source.

Evidence and interpretation

It is not stated as a consensus that it is the first trigonometric table. The attribution to Larsa comes from its acquisition history, not from a controlled excavation. The left break prevents knowing the entire original format.

Catalogue facts

Date of piece
Paleo-Babylonian period · around 1800 BCE
Culture and period
Paleo-Babylonian
Provenance
Southern Iraq; attributed to Larsa, without documented excavation
Material
Clay
Inventory
Plimpton 322

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

Clay32 dated objects

18 / 32In the centre: Plimpton 322

Also connected, without a comparable date (8)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: .

Why is a tablet in a library?

Plimpton is not the name of a Babylonian scribe. George Arthur Plimpton put together a collection on the history of education that came to Columbia in 1936. The library identifies this tablet among the materials that enriched its mathematical history collections. Its presence alongside books, manuscripts and instruments allows us to compare different ways of conserving knowledge. This modern association helps to study it, but does not prove that its ancient owner used it for teaching.

Where it is held

Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

Institution that preserves the piece; Check with the museum about its availability to visit.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

Consult the part documentation

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