To do the method, begin by writing the two numbers you want to multiply at the top of two columns. In the left column, you progressively halve the number and take the integer floor of any “and a half” ...

Finding evidence of ancient mathematics isn’t easy outside of written records, but a new study suggests that floral pottery from the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia shows evidence of geometry ...

On a set of broken clay bowls from northern Mesopotamia, delicate flower patterns have turned out to be something far more radical than decoration. New analysis of this ancient art suggests that early ...

Learn how ancient pottery covered in flowers may be humanity’s first attempts at mathematical thinking.

Historians and archaeologists have, over centuries, explored the mysteries behind the Great Sphinx of Giza: What did it originally look like? What was it designed to represent? What was its original ...

FOR too long the history of mathematics in India was studied only by scholars suffering under the almost insuperable handicap of belonging to an alien civilization ; but recently a number of Indian ...

For people living in the ancient city of Babylon, Marduk was their patron god, and thus it is not a surprise that Babylonian astronomers took an interest in tracking the comings and goings of the ...

The University Grants Commission’s draft mathematics curriculum, 2025, unveiled in August, has sparked a debate around its skewed emphasis on ancient knowledge systems over core subjects. Designed for ...

The curriculum combines astronomy, mythology, and mathematics, covering ancient observatories. Ancient Indian knowledge systems like Kala Ganpana (traditional timekeeping), Bharatiya Bijganit (Indian ...