Re: Universal grammar

In article <1161873569.743972.272010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Franz
Gnaedinger" <frgn@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks for honoring the Babylonians. Also the Egyptians knew
the triangle 3-4-5 and used it for the first systematic calculation
of the circle: www.seshat.ch/home/rhind1.htm

I think the Babylonians also knew how to solve second degree polynomial
equations, but only empirically, as a set of instructions for finding the
answer. One can also note that the realization that the imaginary
and complex numbers form an important number system comes much later,
somewhere in medieval times, when one learns how to solve 3rd degree
equations, of which some may have all real solutions and
the complex numbers may serve as an intermediate to find the answer. There
is a similar development of negative numbers.

--
Hans Aberg
.