4
$\begingroup$

I'm a third year maths undergrad currently taking a 'History and Development of Mathematics' module.

As a maths student, you can probably guess my skills at writing an essay are a little (if not very) dusty, and wondered if anyone could give me some tips on how to structure it, and if there is anything vital I need to include?

The title is "What influence did the Pre-Christianity Babylonians and Greeks have in the development of mathematical astronomy?"

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ What is your outline? Any specific topics that you think might interest your audience? How much background can you assume from your readers? $\endgroup$
    – vonbrand
    Feb 25, 2014 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ "As a maths student, you can probably guess my skills at writing an essay are a little (if not very) dusty" -- maybe there is good irony and humility in this, but taken verbatim, I have to disagree strongly with the view that underlies this statement. -- Sorry, this is not directly helpful, but hey, more confidence! Who should know how to structure anything if not a mathematician? $\endgroup$ Feb 25, 2014 at 11:41

2 Answers 2

1
$\begingroup$

If anyone could give me some tips on how to structure it

Babylon

Greece (and Egypt, which lies just across the Mediterranean)

Hope some of this helps.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It should be worth noting here that citing wiki is absolutely what you don't want to do. It's good for finding preliminary information, but in terms of essays and papers, it should be a no-go. $\endgroup$
    – DrkVenom
    Feb 26, 2014 at 17:56
1
$\begingroup$

The "pre-christianity" part of the title is bizarre. Pretty much everything the Babylonians did is pre-Christian. Even the Greeks did almost nothing in mathematics and astronomy after Christianity arrived on the shores of Alexandria or on the mainlands of Greece.

Other than that, there's not much you can do except reading Neugebauer (Exact Sciences in Antiquity) and Ossendrijver for the Babylonian part. As for Greek astronomy, check the web for the contributions of Eratosthenes, Aristarch and Ptolemy.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .