"Tracking and recording the motion of the sun, the
moon, and the planets as they paraded across the desert sky, ancient Babylonian
astronomers used simple arithmetic to predict the positions of celestial bodies.
Now, new evidence reveals that these astronomers, working several centuriesB.C.E., also employed sophisticated geometric methods that foreshadow thedevelopment of calculus. Historians had thought such techniques did not emerge
until more than 1400 years later, in 14th century Europe."
