Babylonian Algebra

After seeing how the Babylonians solved algebra I have become very thankful for modern methods. The Babylonian method was very convoluted and quite frankly hard to follow. When thinking about the question that was posed to us on the class blog "How could one state a general mathematical principle in a time before the development of algebra and algebraic notation?" and I was quite perplexed. I had a very hard time coming up with a solution. The Babylonian method reminds me a lot of the way I used to do math when I was younger, I was never a very attentive student but I somehow got by in math. The teacher would teach the class the "correct" way of doing things, but since I never paid attention I would just come up with my own method. Depending on the year and teacher, they would either care or not care about me using my own method. For example, in grade three we learned long division, but I just decided on my own method. The teacher was fine with it because I got the correct answer, but as time has gone on division questions I was given got harder and harder until my method didn't work anymore. I never learned the proper way to do these questions. I see the Babylonian methods like this, there was no way to answer these questions, so they made one up. Their method does work, but the modern method is the easier option and I view it as the correct one.

"Is mathematics all about generalization and abstraction?". Yes, I believe that it is. Generalization is important for a ground-level understanding of math, knowing these general rules is important. Examples of which are "BEDMAS", which stands for Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction. This is the rule for the order at which to follow for algebra. In real life however, not every situation is cookie cutter. The abstractions and intricacies of math are important for this. 

While thinking about different areas of mathematics it is difficult to think of ones that can be explained without algebra  (especially as a finance major, we use a lot of algebra!). Even geometry, at its most basic core of calculating the area and edges of a rectangle uses algebra to fill in the missing gaps. 

My conclusion is that the Babylonians did an extremely impressive job explaining mathematical concepts, given their limited resources. Also, I never thought I would be so thankful for algebra!