The language of mathematics: the case of cuneiform texts

Conférence de Carlos Gonçalves (résident de l'IEA de Paris)

Présentation

Numbers, measurements and calculations were extremely common in the cuneiform culture. Besides their presence in the so-called strictly mathematical texts, numbers, measurements and calculations were also constitutive of texts of loan contracts, real state transactions and tribute collection, to mention only these examples. In this talk, I will present some aspects of the mathematical language that characterise this rich corpus.