History of Babylonian Word Problems

After reading the assigned piece, I wondered how effective and efficient the usage of these word problems was. In a historical sense, when looking at what resources were available at that time, I can understand why they used the methods that they did, however, in today's context, it doesn't make much sense. When actually looking at the problems, there are a lot of numbers with many fractions, I wondered why they couldn't use easily divisible numbers.

I think that these problems help people visualize mathematics and view them in a more realistic perspective. I think this can be extremely helpful in teaching mathematics, and making solving problems fun for the solver. Doing word problems also involve a lot of creativity when solving, I think that this can build up and help someone become a more creative thinker.


One benefit with these word problems is that they work on both English and mathematics skills, in order to solve the problem, you must first be able to comprehend it. I think that these problems teach valuable skills in both of these senses, and also work on critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The Babylonians focused on not-only pure mathematics but developed problems to help others comprehend what was going on and apply their knowledge.


Comments

  1. Susan GerofskySeptember 30, 2019 at 12:15 PM

    Interesting ideas here, Imryn. One thing to think about: are there differences between recreational mathematics (puzzles people do for fun) and school mathematics word problems. What is it that makes a problem story fun? What makes it drudgery?

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