Egyptian math basics

Egyptian math basics

Recording numbers and quantities was one of the first requirements of the bureaucracy as soon as hieroglyphs had been invented. Items to be accounted for varied from enemies slain in battle and prisoners to how many jars of beer or bunches of onions were needed to accompany the Pharaoh into the afterlife. Inventories of equipment used in temples were kept meticulously and any damage noted down.

The system of writing numbers was logical but cumbersome and took up a lot of space. A vertical or horizontal stroke indicated numbers 1 to 9, a hobble for cattle 10 to 90, a coil of rope 100 to 900 and a lotus 1,000 to 9,000. For higher numerals 10,000 was represented by a finger raised for counting and 100,000 by a tadpole – of which myriads would emerge in the pools left by the Nile’s annual flood. The concept of a million was confined to royal propaganda to convey the sense of the infinite number of years for which the Pharaoh and his monuments would exist. The notation took the form of a god with his arms raised to support the sky.

If the above numbers were written under or beside the “mouth” sign, meaning a “part”, then that indicated fractions. However, in measuring bushels of wheat, often used for payment in Egypt which had no coinage, a specialist system of indicating numerals was used. This took the sign of the human eye with the markings of a falcon’s cheek below it – known as the eye of Horus, above – and broke it into separate parts so that the eyebrow, for instance, equalled one eighth and the pupil one quarter. The fractions then added up to 63/64, so the missing 1/64 was supplied magically by the god Thoth who was responsible for mathematical accuracy. Length was measured by the distance between the elbow and finger-tip which we call a cubit and was roughly 20in.

Accurate dating was essential for royal documents and for determining days in temples when specific rituals were performed. In general, though, most people were content to be guided by the three seasons: the Nile flood, the winter sowing of crops and the summer harvest.

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More information on Egyptian math can be found by looking up the Rhind papyrus

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The question must be asked - if the Egyptians civilization was based on information/influence from aliens or 'advanced' humans why was there math so primitive? Why no place holding zero?

However the Egyptians did do a good job with what they had, looking thru the Rhind papyrus you can see they had an active interest in mathematics, and could solve a number of fairly complex problems - despite the clumsy numerical system.

ah well here you clearly don't understand

the Egyptians didn't build the pyramids
they just came along afterwards and utilised them
the aliens were in Mesopotamia and India who do have a place holding zero