Ancient geometry: Thinking about how to measure the circle (Q2861045)

In Old Babylonian texts we find the formula \(\frac{1}{12}(3d)^2\) for the area of a circle, where \(d\) stands for the diameter of the circle. Despite some similarity between this formula and that of Archimedes, the author argues that it is very unlikely that the formula was obtained by computing areas of inscribed regular polygons, given that ``there are no texts from this period that ask for the calculation of the height of a triangle''. The author finds that it is more likely that ``concave squares'' (the interior space formed by four tangent circles with the same radius) played a role in its discovery.