Ancient Egyptian Mathematics Research Articles

Ancient Egyptian mathematics in the early 20th century: a mathematical view from Kiel, 1926

In December 1926, the historian of mathematics Otto Neugebauer, then at the very beginning of his career, gave a seminar to mathematicians at the University of Kiel on the subject of ancient Egyptian fraction-reckoning. The content of Neugebauer's lecture was drawn from his doctoral dissertation, completed in Göttingen earlier that year, which had been inspired by the appearance in 1923 of a new edition of the most complete surviving source on ancient Egyptian mathematics, the so-called Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. This new edition, published by the Egyptologist Thomas Eric Peet, had served much more generally to revive interest in the subject of Egyptian mathematics, which was further explored by a small number of authors, including Peet and Neugebauer, throughout the rest of the 1920s. In their works, we see a range of approaches to the subject, from the cautiously context-sensitive style usually adopted by Egyptologists to the much more speculative mathematically-led methods of those scholars, such as Neugebauer, who came from strongly mathematical backgrounds. In this article, we present an annotated translation of Neugebauer's 1926 lecture and use it to paint a picture of differing attitudes towards the study of ancient mathematics.

Contrasting aims and approaches in the study of ancient Egyptian mathematics in the 1920$ \text{s}$

Contrasting aims and approaches in the study of ancient Egyptian mathematics in the 1920$ \text{s}$

Two letters from Otto Neugebauer to Thomas Eric Peet on ancient Egyptian mathematics

We describe two letters of 1926 from the historian of mathematics Otto Neugebauer to the Egyptologist Thomas Eric Peet (Griffith Institute Archive, Oxford: Peet MSS 4.9). The letters concern Neugebauer's study of certain parts of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, as found in the doctoral dissertation that he had completed in Göttingen that year, for which Peet's 1923 edition of the papyrus was a major source. In the letters, we see the young Neugebauer establishing himself within the wider Egyptological community. The letters open up a discussion of Peet's own work on ancient Egyptian mathematics.

A Brief Account of Ancient Egyptian Mathematics as One of the Greatest Guardian Contribution to the Historical Evolution of Mathematics

This paper entails about the amazing capabilities and advancement of ancient Egyptian civilization in the fields of Numerical Mathematics, Geometry and structural Engineering. They had used Hieroglyphic in their writing system. They had already evolved the idea of our present day binary system used in computers, decimal system, applied Geometry in structural Engineering etc. They used Fractions in an interesting way with a numerator of one and a denominator as a positive integer. Their contributions and standards may be said to be of genius calibre. As such the present generation is highly indebted to their contributions towards advancement of Mathematical journey since ancient times to present day.

Teaching of Angle of Elevation by Integrating Angle Measurement in Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

The aim of this study is to stimulate reflections and determine the effects of teaching mathematics by integrating its history through Lesson Study. Lesson Study was utilized as a process to delve into the possible outcomes of incorporating history of mathematics in teaching angle of elevation to 15 freshmen college students taking BS Air Transportation. The researchers followed the three steps in conducting a Lesson Study; planning, implementing, and conducting the post-lesson discussion. The implementation of the lesson and the post-lesson discussion were video and audio recorded which later on transcribed. Three issues in attaining the objectives of the lesson were identified: (1) Being Able to Set-up the Condition and Being Clear with the Instructions (2) Being Realistic with Examples, and (3) Importance of Processing Methodologies, which greatly play an important share on maximizing the learning process and students’ success. Furthermore, feedbacks from the observers and students suggests that using history of mathematics enhanced students’ curiosity about the significance of the lesson in real life. This study may contribute to the advancements of innovative teaching strategies to the rest of educators and researchers.

Ancient Egyptian mathematics: New perspectives on old sources

Although Egyptian mathematics will probably never have the vast number of sources that still can be found in other cultures like India or Mesopotamia, there is more available than has been used so far.33 The analysis of all the available mathematical texts, taken along with the additional material from administrative economic and literary contexts related to Egyptian mathematics, is certain to provide a better foundation for understanding its role within Egyptian culture. This integrated approach represents an important advance beyond the early studies that relied exclusively on an internal analysis of a small corpus of mathematical texts, which served for several decades as the sole basis for assessing nearly three millennia of mathematical life in ancient Egypt. By carefully rereading these classical mathematical texts while according the new sources a serious first reading, we may anticipate that the fate of Egyptian mathematics faces an exciting future.

Ancient Egyptian Mathematics: New Perspectives on Old Sources

Ancient Egyptian Mathematics: New Perspectives on Old Sources

Using Ancient Egyptian Fractions to Review Fraction Concepts

Much of What We Know Today About the mathematics of ancient Egypt is contained in a papyrus scroll that was copied from an earlier scroll by the scribe Ahmes in about 1650 BME (before the modern era) (Boyer 1968). A fascinating feature of ancient Egyptian mathematics is its treatment of common fractions. In most cases, the Egyptians used only unit fractions, that is, fractions with numerators of 1. The one common exception is 2/3, and they would occasionally use fractions of the form n/(n + 1). However, both forms are complements of unit fractions.

The Influence of Ancient Egypt on Greek and Other Numeration Systems

You may have learned how the ancient Egyptians wrote numbers. For example, for the number 600, you would write a symbol for a scroll six times. Actually, ancient Egypt had two main systems of writing: hieroglyphic and hieratic. Hieroglyphics, dating back over 5,000 years, were used mainly for inscriptions on stone walls and monuments. Hieratic writing was a cursive script suitable for writing on papyrus, the Egyptian form of paper. Much of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian mathematics comes from a papyrus written by the scribe Ahmose around 1650 B.C.E. Although he wrote in hieratic script, recent historians transcribed this document and others into hieroglyphics, giving readers the impression that all Egyptian writing was in hieroglyphics, the system that you may have learned.

Egyptian Mathematical Texts and Their Contexts

ArgumentThe extant sources for ancient Egyptian mathematics are extremely limited. It is therefore necessary to read the few sources carefully and use additional information from further Egyptian sources in order to achieve the most detailed picture possible. Traditional approaches to Egyptian mathematics have provided only a superficial account of mathematical practices and almost no information about the role of mathematics within Egyptian culture. To enlarge our knowledge it is crucial to use a different methodological approach in the analysis of ancient mathematical techniques. In addition, it is indispensable to contextualize the mathematical problems with sources that are not specifically mathematical per se. In this article I discuss several possibilities for these additional sources, such as administrative texts, reliefs found in tombs, and other archaeological evidence. I exemplify the use of these sources with two problems from the Moscow mathematical papyrus.

Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book. Vol. 3. Ancient Egyptian Mathematics. M. Clagett

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAncient Egyptian Science: A Source Book. Vol. 3. Ancient Egyptian Mathematics. M. Clagett Leo DepuydtLeo Depuydt Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 61, Number 4Oct., 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/469051 Views: 6Total views on this site Copyright 2002 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The computer as a Trojan Horse

Abstract This paper reports on a study of boys in an Australian secondary school who were under achieving in school mathematics. The subjects were asked to develop computing software to teach fellow students about aspects of Ancient Egyptian mathematics. The paper reports four example case studies of the experience of the subjects during the course of the intervention. The paper examines the use of computing software development as a vehicle for the incidental learning of mathematical technique and for changes in attitude towards mathematics. Four different mathematical activities are reported in the case studies with a screen‐dump of the subjects work included as an illustrative example.

Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book. Volume 3: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics. Marshall Clagett

<i>Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book. Volume 3: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics</i>. Marshall Clagett

Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book, Vol. 3: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book, Vol. 3: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

The Part in Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

The Part in Ancient Egyptian Mathematics

A Demotic Mathematical Papyrus Fragment

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Demotic Mathematical Papyrus FragmentRichard A. ParkerRichard A. Parker Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 18, Number 4Oct., 1959 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/371543 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Annette Imhausen Mathematical Texts in Egypt, (Mar 2016): 2718–2721.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_9441Annette Imhausen Ancient Egyptian mathematics: New perspectives on old sources, The Mathematical Intelligencer 28, no.11 (Nov 2008): 19–27.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02986998 Nathan Sivin , Harry Woolf , and Phyllis Brooks Bosson Eighty-Fifth Critical Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (To 1 January 1960), Isis 51, no.33 (Oct 2015): 371–484.https://doi.org/10.1086/348933

1786. Some suggestions for school work, derived from ancient Egyptian mathematics

1786. Some suggestions for school work, derived from ancient Egyptian mathematics