Babylonian word problems reading and response

 Something that stood out to me specifically from this text was the mention of the different methods the Babylonians and the Greeks used when teaching. More specifically, the point made by Høyrup about how "Greek mathematicians grew out of problems" as opposed to how "nearly all the Babylonian texts" were "problem texts". His idea of the "useless second-degree problems" in Babylonian scribal mathematics where students were taught to problem solve using the methods at hand could be an example of pure mathematics whereas the Greeks and their focus on solving problems practically by applying methods could be seen an example of applied mathematics. 

I do think that both of these teaching methodologies focus on practicality and generality as they were taught to subsequent generations however, I think that Babylonian word problems carry more weight in practicality. This can be seen by the type of word problems they as they were focused on real life applications such as when they tried to find the original length of a broken reed that was used to measure a field, and flooding fields of several square kilometers to a depth of one finger, for irrigation.

I also wanted to note that I think that all types of mathematics is very abstract in its own way. If I was not taught the concept or application of how to solve algebraic equations then I would be lost. Same goes for word problems, however, word problems are more abstract in the sense that they require backwards thinking and are largely based on finding your own methodology that works best for you. 


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