Pow do we know whaL Lhe LgypLlan language of

numbers ls? lL has been found on Lhe wrlLlngs on

Lhe sLones of monumenL walls of anclenL Llme
numbers have also been found on poLLery
llmesLone plaques and on Lhe fraglle flbers of
Lhe papyrus 1he language ls composed of
hleroglyphs plcLorlal slgns LhaL represenL
people anlmals planLs and numbers
LveryLhlng we know abouL lL orlglnaLes
from Lwo 18'long papyrus rolls and a few
drled and lnscrlbed pleces of leaLher
1hls can mean Lwo Lhlngs LlLher Lhe
LgypLlans weren'L very lnLeresLed ln
maLhemaLlcs or mosL of Lhelr calculaLlons
have dlsappeared ln Lhe whlrlpools of Llme
1he laLLer ls by far Lhe mosL llkely AfLer all
you need some knowledge ln geomeLry
among oLher Lhlngs Lo consLrucL pyramlds
sphlnxes and oLher such wonders
1he orlglns of LgypLlan maLhemaLlcs was largely
dependenL on Lhe changes of cllmaLe near Lhe end
of Lhe SLone Age and lndeed very slmllar Lo Lhe
orlglns of 8abylonlan and Chlnese maLhemaLlcs
When Lhe cllmaLe changed ln Lhe sLone age (abouL
3000 8C) people ln Lurope SouLhern Afrlca
SouLheasL Asla and LasLern norLh and SouLh
Amerlca found LhaL Lhe foresLs were expandlng and
Laklng over Lhe savannahs
ln addlLlon Lhe 8abylonlans was locaLed on a number
of greaL caravan rouLes Whereas LgypL sLood ln
semllsolaLlon
1he flrsL sLep Lowards wrlLLen numbers was Laken
when Lally marks came lnLo use probably ln pasLoral
socleLles Lo record Lhe counLlng of relaLlvely large
numbers of anlmals ln anclenL LgypL probably as
much as 40003000 years ago Lhe prlesLs and scrlbes
Look a sLep furLher by lnvenLlng a sysLem of numerals
whlch varled accordlng Lo Lhe slze of Lhe number ?ou
gave Lhe lndlvldual numerals and Lhe number of each
ln Lhe grand LoLal uslng Lhese numberslgns Lhe
LgypLlans could add subLracL mulLlply and dlvlde 8uL
Lhey had now speclal symbols for Lhese operaLlons
lnsLead Lhey use Lhe sysLem we now call rheLorlcal
algebra Alongslde Lhe numeral Lhey gave a form of
words descrlblng whaL had Lo be done
1he LgypLlans used a wrlLLen numeraLlon LhaL was
changed lnLo hleroglyphlc wrlLlng whlch enabled
Lhem Lo noLe whole numbers Lo 1000000 lL had a
declmal base and allowed for Lhe addlLlve prlnclple
ln Lhls noLaLlon Lhere was a speclal slgn for every
power of Len lor l a verLlcal llne for 10 a slgn wlLh
Lhe shape of an upslde down u for 100 a splral
rope for 1000 a loLus blossom for 10000 a ralsed
flnger sllghLly benL for 100000 a Ladpole and for
1000000 a kneellng genle wlLh upralsed arms
Dec|ma|
Number
Lgypt|an
Symbo|
1 staff
10 hee| bone
100 co|| of rope
1000 |otus f|ower
10000
po|nt|ng
f|nger
100000 tadpo|e
1000000
aston|shed
man
1hls hleroglyphlc numeraLlon was a wrlLLen
verslon of a concreLe counLlng sysLem uslng
maLerlal ob[ecLs 1o represenL a number Lhe
slgn for each declmal order was repeaLed as
many Llmes as necessary 1o make lL easler Lo
read Lhe repeaLed slgns Lhey were placed ln
groups of Lwo Lhree or four and arranged
verLlcally
Lxamp|e 1
1 10 100 1000
2 20 200 2000
3 30 300 3000
4 40 400 4000
S S0 S00 S000
8 C D
77 700 7000 76000
n writing the numbers , the largest decimal order would be
written first. The numbers were written from right to left.
ExampIe 2.
,20 =
Below are some examples from
tomb inscriptions.
Addition and Subtraction
The techniques used by the Egyptians for these
are essentially the same as those used by modern
mathematicians today.The Egyptians added by
combining symbols. They would combine all the
units ( )
together, then all of the tens ( )
together, then all of the hundreds ( )
etc. f the scribe had more than ten units ( )
he would replace those ten units by
He would continue to do this until the number of
units left was les than ten. This process was
continued for the tens, replacing ten tens with
etc.
lor example lf Lhe scrlbe wanLed Lo add 436 and
263 hls problem would look llke Lhls
% 4S6)
% 26S)
The scribe would then combine all like symbols
to get something like the following
He would then replace the eleven units ( )
.
with a unit ( ) and a ten ( ).
He would then have one unit and twelve
tens. The twelve tens would be replaced by
two tens and one one-hundred. When he
was finished he would have 721, which he
would write as
SubLracLlon was
done much Lhe same
way as we do lL excepL LhaL when one has Lo borrow lL ls
done wlLh wrlLlng Len symbols lnsLead of a slngle one
&1 29
2 S8
&4 116
1 + 4 S 29 + 116 14S
ultiplication
Egyptians method of multiplication is fairly clever,
but can take longer than the modern day method.
This is how they would have multiplied 5 by 29
When mulLlplylng Lhey would began wlLh Lhe
number Lhey were mulLlplylng by 29 and
double lL for each llne 1hen Lhey wenL back
and plcked ouL Lhe numbers ln Lhe flrsL column
LhaL added up Lo Lhe flrsL number (3) 1hey
used Lhe dlsLrlbuLlve properLy of mulLlpllcaLlon
over addlLlon
29(3) 29(1 + 4) 29 + 116 143
1 7
2 &14
4 &28
8 &S6
2 + 4 + 8 14 14 + 28 + S6 98
ivision
The way they did division was similar to
their multiplication. For the problem 98/7 ,
they thought of this problem as 7 times
some number equals 98. Again the
problem was worked in columns.
1hls Llme Lhe numbers ln Lhe rlghLhand
column are marked whlch sum Lo 98 Lhen Lhe
correspondlng numbers ln Lhe lefLhand
column are summed Lo geL Lhe quoLlenL
So Lhe answer ls 14
98 14 + 28 + 36 7(2 + 4 + 8) 7*14
@he kh|nd %hmes) papyrus
1630 8C ls Lhe approxlmaLe daLe of Lhe 8hlnd (or
Ahmes) papyrus a maLhemaLlcal LexL ln Lhe form of
a pracLlcal handbook lL conLalns elghLyflve
problems copled ln hleraLlc wrlLlng by Lhe scrlbe
Ahmes from an earller work 1he papyrus was
purchased ln1838 ln LgypL by Lhe ScoLLlsh
LgypLologlsL A Penry 8hlnd and Lhen laLer
acqulred by Lhe 8rlLlsh Museum 1hls and Lhe
Moscow papyrus are our chlef sources of
lnformaLlon concernlng anclenL LgypLlan
maLhemaLlcs 1he 8hlnd papyrus was publlshed ln
1927 and ls abouL elghLeen feeL long and abouL
LhlrLeen lnches hlgh
1he 8hlnd apyrus ls a rlch
prlmary source of anclenL
LgypLlan maLhemaLlcs
uescrlblng Lhe LgypLlan
meLhods of mulLlplylng and
dlvldlng Lhe LgypLlan use of
unlL fracLlons Lhelr
employmenL of false poslLlon
Lhelr soluLlon of Lhe problem
of flndlng Lhe area of a clrcle
and many appllcaLlons of
maLhemaLlcs Lo pracLlcal
problems
keferences
1 8oyer Carl 8 A PlsLory of MaLhemaLlcs
!ohn Wlley new ?ork 1968
2 Cllllngs 8lchard ! MaLhemaLlcs ln Lhe 1lme
of Lhe haraohs uover new ?ork 1982
3 !ason Cllman uavld SlavlL AnclenL LgypLlan
MaLhemaLlcs WashlngLon SLaLe unlverslLy
1993