Mesopotamian Mathematics

2018 ◽  
pp. 10-24
Author(s):  
Jens Høyrup
Keyword(s):  
Linear Constraint ◽  
Value System ◽  
Land Distribution ◽  
Old Babylonian ◽  
Euclid’S Elements ◽  
Professional Tool ◽  
Practical Geometry ◽  
And Control ◽  
Fourth Millennium Bce ◽  
Mathematical Texts

The chapter explores “Mesopotamian mathematics,” which arose in the late fourth millennium bce, alongside a logographic script, both of which served in accounting. Writing, accounting, and calculation were in the hands of the manager-priests of the temples, who used the techniques to calculate and control land distribution to high officials, rations in kind to workers, and ingredients necessary for products such as beer. Mathematical texts include problems that seem practical but which would never occur in actual scribal work: their function was to display professional identity by exploiting a professional tool. The place-value system was created to simplify accurate calculations. Central to Old Babylonian mathematics were problems concerned with the properties of the sexagesimal system, as well as “algebraic” problems based on a set of four problems about rectangles with a given area, and some linear constraint. Such geometrical riddles have left traces in the pseudo-Heronian Geometrica collections and in medieval Islamic and Indian practical geometry and are likely to have inspired Euclid’s Elements II.

Self-Concept in Intensive Care Nurses and Control Group Women

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzana Mlinar ◽  
Matej Tušak ◽  
Damir Karpljuk
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
High School Education ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Value System ◽  
Intensive Care Nurses ◽  
Clinical Nurses ◽  
And Control ◽  
Group Self

Our self-concept is how we see ourselves in our minds. The goal of this research was to discover any significant differences in the dimensions of self-concept between clinical nurses employed in an intensive care unit in Slovenia and Slovenian women from the general population, who represented the control group. The research included 603 women aged 20—40 years (mean 29.94; standard deviation ±6.0) who had a high-school education. To determine the differences between the groups statistically we used one-way analysis of variance. The results revealed that clinical nurses had a more positive self-concept than members of the control group. Self-concept is very important in nursing because it is closely connected to the existing value system of individuals and their behaviour. Self-concept gives nurses a sense of how they use their abilities and how they perform in relation to patients.

scholarly journals Designing Organizational Culture Through the Z Theory Modification in the Environment of CV. Indobenua Global Mandiri, Sidoarjo

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
Tiffany Esperances Deandra ◽  
I Gede Arimbawa ◽  
Elok Damayanti
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Control Mechanism ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Value System ◽  
Culture Design ◽  
And Control ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose:  This study aims to designing organizational culture through the Z Theory modification  in the environment of  CV. Indobenua  Global Mandiri, Sidoarjo. Design/methodology/approach:  This study used a qualitative research approach and post positivism philosophy method, Findings: The results of organizational culture design in CV. Indobenua Global Mandiri Sidoarjo formed through modification of the value system derived from Z theory, such as: implicit control mechanism and the prevailing culture in the CV. Indobenua Global Mandiri,  Research limitations/implications:   CV. Indobenua  Global Mandiri, Sidoarjo. Practical implications:   harmonizing relationships among employees, and responsibilities according to job description, and control mechanisms by superiors directly. Originality/value:  Paper type:  This paper can be categorized as case study paper.

scholarly journals Negotiating Elusive Justice: Dilemmas of Land Distribution in Southern Africa

Obiter ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Anstey
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Societal Transformation ◽  
Land Distribution ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Principle Of Justice ◽  
And Control

Transitions to democracy across southern Africa have been difficult and inevitably flawed. Shifts in international values, national demographics and power realities see social conflicts mutate through time, making societal transformation not a point of arrival, but an ongoing process. In Zimbabwe, and more recently Namibia and South Africa, land ownership and control have become bitterly contested issues. If one accepts that injustices were perpetrated in the past, what principles should guide their remedy? This article considers the complexities arising from competing conceptions of justice over land ownership and management in the context of changing political pressures and dilemmas as to who land might be taken from, along with future dilemmas about equitable distribution and productive management. If the crisis-driven experience of Zimbabwe is to be averted, stakeholders in Namibia and South Africa must find jointly acceptable principles to guide action into the future, and it is likely that no single principle of justice will suffice – a principled multi-track approach based on a mix of utilitarian, restorative and economic empowerment logics must be negotiated ... and then urgently implemented.

MATHEMATICAL ASPECTS OF EARTH-MOVING LINKED TO HYDRAULIC WORKS IN UR III UMMA

Iraq ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 15-34
Author(s):  
Sergio Alivernini
Keyword(s):  
Ur Iii ◽  
Old Babylonian ◽  
Mathematical Texts

This paper studies mathematical aspects of earthwork projects in the Ur III city of Umma, c.2053–2032 b.c. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the practical procedures involved in moving earth for hydraulic works around Umma. It also shows how Old Babylonian pedagogical “mathematical texts” about earthworks, from the early second millennium b.c., are indebted to the practical procedures adopted by Ur III officials.

Public Administration: An Islamic Sufi Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-40
Author(s):  
Bijan Bidabad
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Value System ◽  
Organizational Goals ◽  
Decision Making Problem ◽  
Organization Framework ◽  
And Control

Along with comparing public administration affairs in traditional political, genuinely religious, patrimonial, and charismatic systems, we deal with decision-making problem, and along with mentioning decision-making methods in modern mathematics, the decision making process on the basis of personal value system will be under considerations. If the human beings’ value system moves from caring material affairs towards concerning spiritualties, the consequences of decision-making process would be improved. In establishing management and making hierarchical organization, the more the rate of discipline and ration, the organization framework would become more consolidated. The basic skeleton of an organization includes division of labor, authority, and responsibility, hierarchical relationships of different job categories in the organization, and the qualifications of relationships are of the other items that are being considered in this paper. Mutual understandings and beliefs of members of the organization in approaching organizational goals and their moral commitments to preserve organization's benefits would reduce the costs of supervision and control in organizations including visible and invisible costs, and methods for providing these conditions in Sufism are achieved via purification of the self for every single of the individuals. Meritocracy and favoritism are other discussed topics in this paper. In conclusion, fifty rules for public administration affairs are presented which have been raised by His Excellency Haj Zein ul-Abedin Shirvani, a Sufi Master of two centuries ago.  

scholarly journals On a Collection of Geometrical Riddles and their Role in the Shaping of Four to Six “Algebras”

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 85-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Høyrup
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Investigation ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Old Babylonian ◽  
Greek Mathematics ◽  
Practical Geometry

For more than a century, there has been some discussion about whether medieval Arabic al-jabr (and hence also later European algebra) has its roots in Indian or Greek mathematics. Since the 1930s, the possibility of Babylonian ultimate roots has entered the debate. This article presents a new approach to the problem, pointing to a set of quasi-algebraic riddles that appear to have circulated among Near Eastern practical geometers since c. 2000 BCE, and which inspired first the so-called “algebra” of the Old Babylonian scribal school and later the geometry of Elements II (where the techniques are submitted to theoretical investigation). The riddles also turn up in ancient Greek practical geometry and Jaina mathematics. Eventually they reached European (Latin and abbaco) mathematics via the Islamic world. However, no evidence supports a derivation of medieval Indian algebra or the original core of al-jabr from the riddles.

scholarly journals On the correctness of problem solving in ancient mathematical procedure texts

2021 ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Mario Bacelar Valente
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Mathematical Procedure ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Old Babylonian ◽  
Mathematical Texts

It has been argued in relation to Old Babylonian mathematical procedure texts that their validity or correctness is self-evident. One “sees” that the procedure is correct without it having, or being accompanied by, any explicit arguments for the correctness of the procedure. Even when agreeing with this view, one might still ask about how is the correctness of a procedure articulated? In this work, we present an articulation of the correctness of ancient Egyptian and Old Babylonian mathematical procedure texts – mathematical texts presenting the solution of problems. We endeavor to make explicit and explain how and why the procedures are reliable over and above the fact that their correctness is intuitive.

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