Is the Pythagorean theorem Babylonian?

The Australian mathematician Daniel Manfield has published the latest results regarding his studies on the Plimpton 322 tablet, dating back to the early Babylonian period (1900-1600 BC).
C.), opening new perspectives on ancient mathematics and its purposes.
It is known that Babylonian mathematics was based on a sexagesimal system used to compose lists of numbers with the relative calculations. Plimpton 322 is in fact a list of numbers, divided into 4 columns and 15 rows.
The tablet, studied intensively since its discovery, has now been read in an innovative way.

According to Manfield it is a theoretical treatment with practical use. In fact, comparing it with other tablets of the same period, there is a connection with the practice of measuring fields. This was carried out since previous eras by special scribes with mathematical / geometric training.
The plots of land were divided into smaller and more regular portions to measure the area. The lands were public and therefore margins of error were tolerated. Subsequently, however, the lands began to become private and therefore the surveyors had to develop an increasingly precise system to prevent and settle disputes between the owners of the plots.
Evidence of this is found for example in the tablet called Si.427, one of the earliest and most complete examples of applied geometry. Thus the need arose to theoretically enhance increasingly precise mathematical calculations to be used later in the practice of exact measurement of plots of land. According to Mansfield, the Plimpton 322 tablet responds precisely to this need.

It is in fact a table of rectangles, of which the area is calculated using the Pythagorean triples, specifying which sides are regular and which are not.
Precisely the fact that these are not regular shapes has allowed the researchers to hypothesize a practical use, linked to the geography of the territory.
The hypothesis, argued effectively, however, remains for now only a proposal, since, according to Manfield himself, it is still difficult to verify archaeologically.

Agnese Picco
NP October 2021