Posts by Ask Noah

Forget trigonometry, 'cos Babylonians did it better 3,700 years ago – by counting in base 60!

Re: What this implies

Sorry for the typo. The reference is Rashi on Genesis 15:5.

What this implies

The ancient Babylonians used this trigonometry for their advanced building projects. In the Biblical timeline, 3700 years ago is around the youth of Isaac, when Abraham was over 100 years old. So the Babylonians certainly had knowledge of this when Abraham was a young man, which was at the time when the Babylonians were building the Tower of Babel, according to the traditional Biblical timeline in the classical book "Seder Olam." How else could such a difficult engineering project have been undertaken, without such an advanced trigonometric knowledge of how to design it?

Also, base-60 trigonometry would be a natural system for accurate star-charting in ancient astronomy and astrology (60 minutes per hour in a twelve hour day, during which the earth makes a full 360 degree axial rotation). The Babylonians were advanced in this knowledge at that time, as we know that Abraham was an expert astrologer. (See Rashi on Genesis 13:5,)