Content
The main content of Plimpton 322 is a table of numbers, with four columns and fifteen rows, in Babylonian sexagesimal notation. The fourth column is just a row number, in order from 1 to 15. The second and third columns are completely visible in the surviving tablet. However, the edge of the first column has been broken off, and there are two consistent extrapolations for what the missing digits could be; these interpretations differ only in whether or not each number starts with an additional digit equal to 1. With the differing extrapolations shown in parentheses, these numbers are:
| (1:)59:00:15 | 1:59 | 2:49 | 1 |
| (1:)56:56:58:14:50:06:15 | 56:07 | 1:20:25 | 2 |
| (1:)55:07:41:15:33:45 | 1:16:41 | 1:50:49 | 3 |
| (1:)53:10:29:32:52:16 | 3:31:49 | 5:09:01 | 4 |
| (1:)48:54:01:40 | 1:05 | 1:37 | 5 |
| (1:)47:06:41:40 | 5:19 | 8:01 | 6 |
| (1:)43:11:56:28:26:40 | 38:11 | 59:01 | 7 |
| (1:)41:33:45:14:03:45 | 13:19 | 20:49 | 8 |
| (1:)38:33:36:36 | 8:01 | 12:49 | 9 |
| (1:)35:10:02:28:27:24:26 | 1:22:41 | 2:16:01 | 10 |
| (1:)33:45 | 45 | 1:15 | 11 |
| (1:)29:21:54:02:15 | 27:59 | 48:49 | 12 |
| (1:)27:00:03:45 | 2:41 | 4:49 | 13 |
| (1:)25:48:51:35:06:40 | 29:31 | 53:49 | 14 |
| (1:)23:13:46:40 | 56 | 1:46 | 15 |
It is possible that additional columns were present in the broken-off part of the tablet to the left of these columns. Conversion of these numbers from sexagesimal to decimal raises additional ambiguities, as the Babylonian sexagesimal notation did not specify the power of the initial digit of each number.
Read more about this topic: Plimpton 322
Famous quotes containing the word content:
“Nature is, after all, the only book that offers important content on every page.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence and neglect the real.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“It seems that I must bid the Muse to pack,
Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friend
Until imagination, ear and eye,
Can be content with argument and deal
In abstract things; or be derided by
A sort of battered kettle at the heel.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)