Resources & Links
- Egyptian MathematicsAlongside 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.
- Egyptian Mathematics Numbers HieroglyphsThe ancient Egyptians were possibly the first civilisation to practice the scientific arts. Indeed, the word chemistry is derived from the word Alchemy which is the ancient name for Egypt.
- Mathematics in Ancient EgyptThe introduction of writing in Egypt in the predynastic period (c. 3000 BCE) brought with it the formation of a special class of literate professionals, the scribes.
Research & Reference
- Egyptian Mathematics: Credo ReferenceA Credo Reference landing page on Egyptian mathematics. This page includes links to reference works, journal articles, and a mind map.
Mathematics in Everyday Egyptian Life
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Egyptian mathematics were used frequently in everyday activities such as dividing bread and beer equally among workers. From practical math, new abstractions appeared such as fractions and the mathematics of numbers including pi.
Source: Films on Demand
Perspectives
Count Like an Egyptian
A lively collection of fun and challenging problems in ancient Egyptian math The mathematics of ancient Egypt was fundamentally different from our math today. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't a primitive forerunner of modern mathematics. In fact, it can't be understood using our current computational methods. Count Like an Egyptian provides a fun, hands-on introduction to the intuitive and often-surprising art of ancient Egyptian math. David Reimer guides you step-by-step through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. He even shows you how fractions and decimals may have been calculated--they technically didn't exist in the land of the pharaohs. You'll be counting like an Egyptian in no time, and along the way you'll learn firsthand how mathematics is an expression of the culture that uses it, and why there's more to math than rote memorization and bewildering abstraction. Reimer takes you on a lively and entertaining tour of the ancient Egyptian world, providing rich historical details and amusing anecdotes as he presents a host of mathematical problems drawn from different eras of the Egyptian past. Each of these problems is like a tantalizing puzzle, often with a beautiful and elegant solution. As you solve them, you'll be immersed in many facets of Egyptian life, from hieroglyphs and pyramid building to agriculture, religion, and even bread baking and beer brewing. Fully illustrated in color throughout, Count Like an Egyptian also teaches you some Babylonian computation--the precursor to our modern system--and compares ancient Egyptian mathematics to today's math, letting you decide for yourself which is better.
Ancient Egypt: Everyday Life in the Land of the Nile
A vivid view of life in ancient Egypt. More than 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians founded one of the worlds oldest civilizations. We know of its pyramids, art, and pharaohs. But what was life really like then? Ordinary citizens in ancient Egypt lived and worked in much the same ways as the average European of the eighteenth century, but ate better, had more practical clothing and lived more comfortably, in houses with patios, latrines, and cooling systems. Through deep investigative research, the authors explore the social and material existence in ancient Egypt-from what people ate and drank to how they worked, lived, played, and prayed. Features color and black-and-white images throughout, along with maps.
A History of Mathematics
The updated new edition of the classic and comprehensive guide to the history of mathematics For more than forty years, A History of Mathematics has been the reference of choice for those looking to learn about the fascinating history of humankind's relationship with numbers, shapes, and patterns. This revised edition features up-to-date coverage of topics such as Fermat's Last Theorem and the Poincaré Conjecture, in addition to recent advances in areas such as finite group theory and computer-aided proofs. Distills thousands of years of mathematics into a single, approachable volume Covers mathematical discoveries, concepts, and thinkers, from Ancient Egypt to the present Includes up-to-date references and an extensive chronological table of mathematical and general historical developments. Whether you're interested in the age of Plato and Aristotle or Poincaré and Hilbert, whether you want to know more about the Pythagorean theorem or the golden mean, A History of Mathematics is an essential reference that will help you explore the incredible history of mathematics and the men and women who created it.
The Historical Roots of Elementary Mathematics
Exciting, hands-on approach to understanding fundamental underpinnings of modern arithmetic, algebra, geometry and number systems, by examining their origins in early Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek sources. Students can do division like the ancient Egyptians, solve quadratic equations like the Babylonians, and more.