Common Core State Standard L.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: Video of a current news event is presented for discussion to encourage student participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the video. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.
08/28/2017
Babylonian tablet dates trigonometry back 3,700 years
Scientists say a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet they've studied is the world's oldest, most accurate trigonometric table. It predates Pythagoras and the Greek system of trigonometry by about 1,000 years. The tablet shows a simpler and more accurate system than the Greek-based trigonometry we use today. It's based on ratios instead of angles and circles. It is thought the ancient Babylonians used the system to survey the land and build temples and canals in what is now Iraq.
■Class discussion: Do you think other knowledge from ancient civilizations has been lost over the centuries? What secrets do imagine were lost when the Romans burned the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt? After the fall of Rome, who preserved the ancient knowledge of science, politics and literature that western Europe rediscovered in the Renaissance? The trigonometry tablet used the Babylonian number system which had a base of 60 instead of 10. How is this base 60 number system still used?