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Abstract

Mesopotamian mathematics was an empirical science that was understood through evidence and experience rather than axioms and theorems. For instance, for the rectangle with diagonal 5 and sides 4 and 3 we can verify that the square of the diagonal equals to the sum of the squares of the sides. By verifying this relation across a variety of Pythagorean triples, Mesopotamian mathematicians came to understand that this relation applied to all rectangles in general. This talk discusses how viewing Mesopotamian mathematics as an empirical science changes the way we understand certain mathematical artefacts from this period.