Plimpton 322 tablet

[DaleSVP]

On Jun 6, 2007
Malcolm Stewart wrote:

Dear Dale Pond

We met at Hourne Farm, Sussex, UK more than a decade ago. Thanks for all the work you have been doing and enabling over all these years.

I was in correspondence with Ben Iverson before he died - re. Andrew Wiles's proff of Fermat's last theorem.

I am primarily a geometer/designer and have a book in preparation with an English publisher that makes a cautious proposal as to how the entire geometric and numerical aspect of civilisation first got kick-started. Ben Iverson's QA work features at one stage particularly as it unifies the 3:4:5 triple with the 1, 1, 2, 3 bead number set.

At present I'm refining and amplifying some parts and have wondered if Ben, or indeed yourself, have ever commented in detail on the Plimpton 322 tablet, which seems to contain a set of triples; though not, according to mainstream mathematical historians, the most obvious ones. It may be that QA qould explain why the particular group of triples occurs in the tablet. So on the assumption that Plimpton would be known to you both I am making this request.

Thanks for you attention. Keep up the good work  
Malcolm Stewart

===========================

Hi Malcolm,

It has been a long time indeed - 1989. I vaguely remember you wanting to redraw the Keely drawings. Did you ever do any of them?

The Plimpton tablet is new to me. I do not recall it ever coming up between Ben and I - though it could have and I just don't remember it.

I did a quick read up on it on the web this morning. Yes, it is fascinating and there appears to be relations with QA and some of Bucky Fuller's works on early number systems. If I weren't so busy with so much here I would join you in discussing the numbers on this tablet. I may still.... 

I will post something about the tablet on the QA forum. Maybe there is someone there who could engage with you.
Dale

[information_synthesis]

The Plimpton 322 Tablet:
http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/courses/m446-03/pl322/pl322.html