EGYPTIAN MATHEMATİCS
EGYPTIAN CONTRIBUTION TO MATHEMATICS
BY RABİA KOÇ 170202025
History of Mathematics
Alongside the Babylonians and Indians, the Egyptians are largely responsible for
the shape of mathematics as we know it. Their knowledge and techniques
passed on to the Greeks, helping the Hellenes to develop their great store of
mathematical knowledge. Sadly, what we know about Egyptian mathematics is
scanty and incomplete.
EGYPT
The Egyptian civilization built many great monuments over a period spanning
thousands of years, and it is logical to assume that they had a good knowledge of
applied mathematics, based upon developing good techniques for surveying and
building. They also used sophisticated mathematical techniques for devising a
calendar, for administration, and for accounting. The mathematical skill of the
Egyptians was focused upon solving real world problems, rather than discovering
principles.
EGYPTİAN MATHEMATİCS
The mathematics of Egypt, at least what is known from the papyri, can essentially
be called applied arithmetic. It was practical information communicated via
example on how to solve specific problems.
WHAT İS THE EGYPTİAN MATHEMATİCS?
The early Egyptians settled along the fertile Nile valley as early as about 6000
BCE, and they began to record the patterns of lunar phases and the seasons, both
for agricultural and religious reasons.
The Pharaoh’s surveyors used measurements based on body parts (a palm was
the width of the hand, a cubit the measurement from elbow to fingertips) to
measure land and buildings very early in Egyptian history, and a decimal numeric
system was developed based on our ten fingers. The oldest mathematical text
from ancient Egypt discovered so far, though, is the Moscow Papyrus, which
dates from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom around 2000 – 1800 BCE.
EGYPTİAN HİEROGLYPHİC NUMBER SYSTEM
It is thought that the Egyptians introduced
the earliest fully-developed base 10
numeration system at least as early as 2700 Sını Gru Gru
BCE (and probably much early). Written f p1 p2
numbers used a stroke for units, a heel- Sını
bone symbol for tens, a coil of rope for 82 95
f1
hundreds and a lotus plant for thousands, Sını
as well as other hieroglyphic symbols for 76 88
f2
higher powers of ten up to a million. Sını
However, there was no concept of place 84 90
f3
value, so larger numbers were rather
unwieldy (although a million required just
one character, a million minus one required
fifty-four characters).
Egyptian Numbers and Trial and Error
To support the idea that the Egyptians were fine mathematicians, a number of
papyruses proved to be a guide to solving problems in arithmetic and geometry.
This papyrus, alongside hieroglyphics, showed that the Egyptians used a decimal
system of numbers, although it was not positional like our modern system, which
meant that they did not need a symbol for zero, much like the Roman system of
numbers. The Egyptians could add and subtract using this system of numbers,
but division and multiplication were time consuming and difficult and relied upon
doubling or halving, as with a computer binary system.
The Egyptians used trial and error techniques to arrive at solutions to problems,
and had little interest in looking for formulae or complex interrelationships
between sets of numbers. The formulas that the Egyptians developed gave them
ways to estimate the areas and volumes of shapes and solids, which, whilst not
perfectly accurate, were a close enough approximation for their purposes.
The Egyptian mathematicians understood a little algebra and were capable of
solving linear equations, and could solve simple quadratic equations by using a
series of guesses to find the closest answer, a brute force method that was used
for many centuries afterwards
Complex Egyptian Mathematics: Volumes and Fractions
What we know about Egyptian mathematics is scanty and incomplete. Sadly, most
of the Egyptian records were stored on papyrus, which, apart from the problem of
degradation, may have been amongst the Egyptian mathematical texts burned
during the fire at the Library of Alexandria. Therefore, we only have a few
manuscripts to reveal the skill of the Egyptian mathematicians, alongside a few
hieroglyphic records and Greek sources.
The Rhind papyrus discovered by Henry Rhind, in the 19th
century, dates from 1650 BCE and is filled with problems and
solutions, also including a section on fractions. The Egyptians
preferred to reduce all fractions to unit fractions, such as 1/4,
1/2 and 1/8, rather than 2/5 or 7/16. All of these complex
fractions were described as sums of unit fractions so, for
example, 3/4 was written as 1/2+1/4, and 4/5 as 1/2+1/4+1/20.
This seems a little unwieldy but is actually straightforward to use
once you are used to it.
The Moscow papyrus, also dating from around 1850 BCE and discovered by
Golonischev, contained further problems showing how to calculate the volume of a
truncated pyramid and work out the surface area of half a sphere. This showed that the
Egyptians used a value of 256/81 for Pi which, at a figure of 3.16, is close to our modern
number, and was arrived at through brute force and calculating the area of polygons.
Certainly, it was accurate enough for most practical uses.
These techniques were used in the building of the pyramids and other monuments, and
the Egyptians devised a measuring system over the centuries. Their standard of
measurement was the cubit, around 52.3 cm long, and they used rulers and knotted
ropes to make measurements.
SUMMARY, WE CAN SAY THAT THE EGYPTIAN
CONTRIBUTION TO MATHEMATICS HAS BEEN
GREATLY
REFERENCES
https://explorable.com/egyptian-mathematics
https://ibuedutr-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/
g/personal/yilmaz_e2_ibu_edu_tr/Ea-51jp5n2tEgQ6beJKtRT0B5iN-QKeKXW2HgjMczvZ
unA?e=AUOonu
https://www.storyofmathematics.com/egyptian.html/
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Countries/Egypt/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_mathematics
