The Babylonian word problems are practical in nature. They deal with real world problems. These problems were deeply rooted in the daily life and social needs of the Babylonians. While the Babylonians focused on solving specific problems, they began to develop general methods for approaching similar types of problems. They worked on algebraic problems without the symbolic notation or abstract symbols that we use today.
Hi Sally, nice discussion about the development of Babylonian approaches to word problems. I wonder if you might extend on how this contributes to the notion of generalisability.
ReplyDeleteThe Babylonians began with specific, real-world problems. As they solved more and more of these problems, they began to notice patterns and similarities. Instead of solving each problem from scratch, they began to develop methods that could be applied to an entire class of problems. This is the essence of generalizability: taking insights from specific cases and applying them broadly.
DeleteThanks for this revision, Sally!
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