Book:Tablet/YBC 4652

Tablet YBC $4652$

Tablet YBC $4652$ is one of the clay tablets from the Old Babylonian period.

Contents

$11$ problems in algebra to be solved.

From the text on the tablet, it is apparent that it originally contained a total of $22$ such problems.

Examples

I found a stone, but did not weigh it. After I weighed out six times its weight, added $2$ gin and added one third of one seventh [of this new weight] multiplied by $24$, I weighed it. The result was $1$ ma-na. What was the original weight of the stone?

A weight of $1$ ma-na equals $60$ gin.

Sources

• 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $4$: Lure of the Unknown: Equations