On The Role of Notation in Mathematics

Abstract

When Ahmes the Egyptian, author of the oldest mathematical treatise now extant—written nearly two thousand years before Christ, i. e., about the time of Joseph—was presented to Pharaoh, his king, as a learned mathematician, Pharaoh remarked: “Professor, I assure you that I entertain a profound respect for one skilled in the higher mathematics for of all the subjects with which my tutor sought vainly to acquaint me, this was the one to which I could discover neither head, tail nor middle.” This little piece of unwritten history I am able to announce to you for the first time, having inferred it by a process of generalization. For this is the substance of the first remark ventured by Augustus Mutt when introduced to Mathematicus ever since. That Ahmes, too, was a genuine mathematician is attested by his behavior—likewise here reported for the first time—for he assumed a look of superior wisdom and reserve, mingled wits satisfaction, but deprecated the royal humility and presented Pharaoh with a copy of payrus, which bore the modest title: “Directions for obtaining the knowledge of all dark things.”