Mathematics in Ancient Egypt: A Contextual History

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Princeton University Press, 13.10.2020 - 248 Seiten

A survey of ancient Egyptian mathematics across three thousand years

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt traces the development of Egyptian mathematics, from the end of the fourth millennium BC—and the earliest hints of writing and number notation—to the end of the pharaonic period in Greco-Roman times. Drawing from mathematical texts, architectural drawings, administrative documents, and other sources, Annette Imhausen surveys three thousand years of Egyptian history to present an integrated picture of theoretical mathematics in relation to the daily practices of Egyptian life and social structures.

Imhausen shows that from the earliest beginnings, pharaonic civilization used numerical techniques to efficiently control and use their material resources and labor. Even during the Old Kingdom, a variety of metrological systems had already been devised. By the Middle Kingdom, procedures had been established to teach mathematical techniques to scribes in order to make them proficient administrators for their king. Imhausen looks at counterparts to the notation of zero, suggests an explanation for the evolution of unit fractions, and analyzes concepts of arithmetic techniques. She draws connections and comparisons to Mesopotamian mathematics, examines which individuals in Egyptian society held mathematical knowledge, and considers which scribes were trained in mathematical ideas and why.

Of interest to historians of mathematics, mathematicians, Egyptologists, and all those curious about Egyptian culture, Mathematics in Ancient Egypt sheds new light on a civilization's unique mathematical evolution.

 

Inhalt

Introduction
1
PREHISTORIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD
11
The Egyptian Number System
18
Summary
29
The Cultural Context of Egyptian Mathematics in the Old Kingdom
35
Metrological Systems
41
Notation of Fractions
52
The Mathematical Training of Scribes
63
NEW KINGDOM
127
Two Examples of Administrative Texts
133
Mathematics in Literature
143
Further Aspects of Mathematics from New Kingdom Sources
157
Summary
177
Tradition Transmission Development
183
Egyptian Mathematics in Historical Perspective
205
Subject Index
225

Foundation of Mathematics
84
Mathematics in Practice and Beyond
102

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Autoren-Profil (2020)

Annette Imhausen is professor of the history of science at Goethe University, Frankfurt. She is the author of Egyptian Algorithms.

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