http://science.slashdot.org/story/16/01/29/1847240/ancient-babylonians-figur... Posted by timothy <http://www.monkey.org/%7Etimothy/> on Friday January 29, 2016 @01:39PM from the clay-tablets-are-hard dept. sciencehabit <http://slashdot.org/%7Esciencehabit> writes: /Tracking and recording the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets as they paraded across the desert sky, ancient Babylonian astronomers used simple arithmetic to predict the positions of celestial bodies. Now, new evidence reveals that these astronomers, working several centuries B.C.E., also employed sophisticated geometric methods that foreshadow the development of calculus <http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/math-whizzes-ancient-babylon-figured-out-forerunner-calculus>. Historians had thought such techniques did not emerge until more than 1400 years later, in 14th century Europe./ -- Honesty is a very expensive gift. So, don't expect it from cheap people - Warren Buffett http://tayek.com/