On formulas for computing both the volume of a truncated pyramid and the circumference of hermeneutic circles

Résumé En

If translating ancient mathematical texts into a sequence of modernalgebraic formulas can no longer be assumed to be a transparent operation, isn't itprecisely because such operation conveys special information on the resources andbeliefs engaged by a commentator when reading an ancient text in this way? In thistalk we account for a first step undertaken in order to circumvent how special andrich this information can be for historiographical investigations. What is themeaning behind a particular choice of symbols and algebraic expressions in orderto account for the so­called "mathematical content" of an ancient text? Is a formulaat the beginning or at the end of the interpretation process? How various types offormulas given by commentators can be correlated with what they actually sayabout the ancient text? Such issues are addressed through the study of a smallgroup of commentaries from the 1930's all focused on a particular mathematicalOld Babylonian problem dealing with the volume of a truncated pyramid.