ANCIENT

MATHEMATICS
Ft. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
AFTER THIS LESSON, WE’LL DISCOVER WHAT IS MATHEMATICS IN
ANCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA, AND THEIR DIFFERENT
COMPUTATIONS.
HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS TALKS ABOUT THE PAST

OF ITSELF.

ACCORDING TO WIKIPEDIA, IT DEALS WITH THE ORIGIN OF

DISCOVERIES IN MATHEMATICS AND THE
MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND NOTATION OF THE
PAST
WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?
In the past, mathematics was regarded as the science of
quantity, whether of magnitudes, as in geometry, or of
numbers, as in arithmetic, or of the generalization of these
two fields, as in algebra.

Mathematics came to be regarded increasingly as the

science of relations, or as the science that draws necessary
conclusions.
The earliest records of advanced, organized mathematics
date back to Babylonia's ancient Mesopotamian country and
Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC.

Before, Mesopotamian government officials whose job it was

to develop and use mathematics for the benefit of that
government in such areas as tax collection, measurement,
building, trade, calendar making, and ritual practices.
MATH IN EGYPT
mathematics was in the domain of specially trained priests
and scribes, government officials whose job it was to
develop and use mathematics for the benefit of that
government in such areas as tax collection, measurement,
building, trade, calendar making, and ritual practices.
Mathematics was in the domain of specially trained priests
and scribes, government officials whose job it was to
develop and use mathematics for the benefit of that
government in such areas as tax collection, measurement,
building, trade, calendar making, and ritual practices.
• From the beginning of Egyptian writing, there were two
styles, the hieroglyphic writing for monumental
inscriptions and the hieratic, or cursive, writing, done with
a brush and ink on papyrus.
• Jean Champollion (1790–1832) was able to begin the
process of understanding Egyptian writing early in the
nineteenth century through the help of a multilingual
inscription—the Rosetta stone—in hieroglyphics and Greek
as well as the later demotic writing, a form of the hieratic
writing of the papyri.
Jean-François Champollion 
•(December 23, 1790 – March 4, 1832)

•He was a French classical scholar, 

philologist, orientalist, and Egyptologist,
famous for deciphering the Egyptian 
hieroglyphs.

•Begin the process of understanding

Egyptian writing early in the nineteenth
century through the help of a multilingual
inscription– THE ROSETTA STONE – in
hieroglyphics and Greek as well as the
later demotic writing, a form of the hieratic
writing of the papyri.
ROSETTA STONE

 The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in

two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using
three scripts:
• Hieroglyphic
- the sacred script of the temples.
• Egyptian Demotic
-the script of everyday native Egyptian
use
• Ancient Greek
-the language of the ruling Ptolemaic Dy-
nasty
TWO MAJOR MATHEMATICAL DOCUMENTS
RHIND MATHEMATICAL PAPYRUS

 Named after the Scottish antiquarian

Alexander Henry Rhind (1833-1863), who
purchased it at Luxor in 1858.

 An Egyptian collection of 84 Mathematics

problems and solutions

 It also contains the Rhind Papyrus 2/n table.

 Placed in the British Museum in 1864

 It is also called the Ahmes Papyrus named
after Ahmose.

 Written in the hieratic script.

MOSCOW MATHEMATICAL PAPYRUS

 The Moscow papyrus contains only about

25, mostly practical, examples. The author
is unknown.

 Purchased in 1893 by Vladimir

Semenovich Golenishchev

 Contains algebraic and geometric

problems together with their solutions.

 Later sold to the Moscow Museum of

Fine Arts.
TWO STYLE OF EGYPTIANS WRITING

HIEROGLYPHICS WRITING

 Monumental inscriptions
 Hieroglyphic numerals can be
found on temples, stone
monuments and vases.
 They give little knowledge about
any mathematical calculations.
HIERATIC WRITING

 Ancient Egyptian cursive writing

 Egyptian began to use flattened sheets
of the dried papyrus reed as "paper"
and the tip of a reed as a "pen.
 WHAT ARE THE BRANCHES OF
MATHEMATICS USED IN ANCIENT TIMES?
Egyptians used geometry, algebra, and arithmetic for their
architectural engineering and trading process.
GEOMETRY
A branch of mathematics that deals with the measurement,
properties, and relationships of points, lines, angles,
surfaces, and solids.
Egyptian experts used to tighten
ropes on the land to mark lines and
circles,
-ARPEDONAPTI

GEOMETRY
It was developed and
used in Ancient Egypt.
 The Two Primary Source on Egyptian

The Rhind Papyrus (also called the Ahmes Papyrus)

- The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, named for the Scotsman A. H.
Rhind (1833–1863) who purchased it at Luxor in 1858

Moscow Papyrus was copied by an unknown scribe (~1850 BC).

-Purchased in 1893 by V. S. Golenishchev (d. 1947) who later sold it to
the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts.
 BUT DOES THE PYTHAGOREAN
THEOREM USED IN ANCIENT EGYPT?
The Pythagorean Theorem was originally from Ancient
Egypt. They used this in constructing their pyramids using a
knotted rope. The Egyptians knew of this relationship for a
triangle with sides in the ratio of "3 - 4 - 5".
BUT WHY WAS THIS THEORY NAMED BY THE GREEK PHILOSOPHER
PYTHAGORAS?
- Pythagoras studied in Egypt where this theorem was introduced to
him.
Pythagoras of Samos in
Ionian Greek; c. 570 – c. 495
BC was an ancient Ionian
Greek philosopher and the
eponymous founder of
Pythagoreanism.

He made important
developments in
mathematics, astronomy, and
the theory of music. 
ALGEBRA
Algebra is the part of mathematics that helps represent
problems or situations in the form of mathematical expressions

HOW WAS ALGEBRA USED IN ANCIENT

EGYPT?
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
ARITHMETIC
Arithmetic is the branch of mathematics that deals with the
study of numbers using various operations on them.

HOW WAS ARITHMETIC USED IN ANCIENT

EGYPT?

The ancient Egyptians utilized a numeral system for

counting and solving written mathematical problems, often
involving multiplication and fractions.
EXAMPLE OF MULTIPLICATION OF EGYPTIANS:

You take one number and

either multiply it by 2 or you add it to itself.
MATH IN MESOPOTAMIA
WHY DO MESOPOTAMIANS NEED MATH?

TO MEASURE THE PLOT

OF THEIR LAND.

FOR TAXATION OF
INDIVIDUALS
FORMULATE THEIR
CALENDAR
The Mesopotamian civilization is perhaps a bit older than the
Egyptian, having developed in the Tigris and Euphrates River
valley beginning sometime in the fifth millennium BCE.

Writing began in Mesopotamia, quite possibly in the southern

city of Uruk, at about the same time as in Egypt, namely, at the
end of the fourth millennium BCE. In fact, writing began there
also with the needs of accountancy, of the necessity of
recording and managing labor and the flow of goods.