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Homage to Babylonia

This article describes some of my experiences of using the mathematics of the Old Babylonian period in my classes. It will not be a connected account of Babylonian mathematics – for that readers can turn to the excellent and easily available book The exact sciences in antiquity [1] and the article will make little sense unless you have read that book or others like it, or know a little about cuneiform mathematics already. I have got to stress that reading a book like Neugebauer's is the minimum preparation before presenting the material that this article discusses. I have neither the time nor the ability to discuss the context in which these materials should be placed. Indeed, placing these materials into their exact historical context is not really possible: even professional historians do not agree about what might seem to the amateur quite simple matters. So in this article I shall be offering readers some nice resources that I have enjoyed using with classes, I shall discuss how they might be used at various places in the curriculum, and indicate some of my faltering attempts to integrate this material into my pupils' general education.