3,700-yr-old tablet identified as oldest trigonometric table
Australia-based scientists analysing a 3,700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet have identified it as "the world's oldest and most accurate trigonometric table". Dating at least 1,000 years before Pythagoras' theorem on right-angled triangles, the tablet's rows and columns depict various trigonometric ratios. Researchers believe the tablet was used in surveying and construction of pyramids.