A Babylonian tablet dated to 1770 BC revealed the use of the theorem that we today call "Pythagorean", a full thousand years before the birth of the Greek mathematician. This discovery calls into question the traditional attribution of the theorem to Pythagoras, but more importantly it suggests that the ancient Babylonians already had a deep understanding of mathematical principles.
The tablet that changes everything
It is known as IM 67118, but it is not just a piece of ancient clay like so many others. He is a silent witness to the ingenuity of the Babylonian mathematicians. The tablet, dated to around 1770 BC, uses the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the length of the diagonal within a rectangle.
There's just one small problem: Pythagoras was born over a thousand years later, in 570 BC. This means that the theorem was known and used much earlier.
And if two clues make one proof, imagine two proofs: another tablet dating back to the period between 1800 and 1600 BC also features a square with triangles labeled inside it.
By translating the signs from base 60, the counting system used by the Babylonians, it turns out that these ancient mathematicians not only knew the Pythagorean theorem (although, of course, they did not call it that), but were also aware of other advanced mathematical concepts , as mathematician Bruce Ratner explains in a paper on the topic.
Why then attribute this theorem to Pythagoras?
The question arises spontaneously: if the theorem was already known, why was it attributed to Pythagoras? The answer lies in the lack of original sources written by Pythagoras. What we know about him has been handed down to us by others, in particular by the Pythagoreans, members of a school he founded in what is now southern Italy.
The school, called the Semicircle of Pythagoras, was secret in nature. However, knowledge learned or discovered there was passed on (orally, since writing materials were rare) and often attributed to Pythagoras himself. The origins of this theorem, which passed through India and China, date back at least 1500 years earlier.
The popularity of a theorem
Even if Pythagoras did not create the theorem, his school certainly contributed to popularizing it. And so, for millennia, this mathematical principle remained associated with his name, despite evidence suggesting a much more ancient origin.
Sometimes the story has more nuances than we might imagine, but the need to safeguard copyright is ageless :)
