Egyptian Mathematics (Blogpost 1)
I've decided to dedicate this blogpost to Egyptian mathematics. They intrigue me, and I'd like to know more about Egyptians' role in mathematics. Before I begin, I'd like to note that I learned all this information via this awesome webpage :
http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/egypt_babylon/egypt.pdf
So, what we know of Egyptian mathematics comes from examples written on papyri. The Ahmes (or known as Rhind) Papyrus is 18 feet long (yes, you read that right) and 13 inches wide. They had a good grasp on arithmetic and its applications. Egyptians were able to solve equivalency problems, addition, multiplication and division all by use of grouping numbers and binary multiples. For example, let's take 52 * 9. By using its doubles, we are able to easily compute this.
I liked how the Ahmes Papyrus contained examples using beer and bread problems. They tried making the problems relatable, which would make it easier for one to understand. The Egyptians figured out Geometry problems which played a large part in their creation of pyramids. There's a specific problem that introduces the rise over run concept which then leads to the volume of a pyramid formula. This was problem #56 on the Ahmes Papyrus. It gave us the equation to find the cotangent of a pyramid, which then led to the tangent, sine and cosine values, which in turn leads us to a lot of information about triangles. Pretty intriguing stuff! Not all of the geometric calculations were accurate, though. Apparently, their idea for area of a circle and quadrilaterals weren't necessarily correct..but at least they got the area for isosceles triangles and trapezoids right. A+ for effort!
What's also worth mentioning is their calendar, which is the closest to being accurate to the "true year". Egyptians noticed the rise and fall of the Nile river and its predictability. I'd like to spend more time on this subject and investigate it further.
The article notes that what we do know about Egyptian mathematics may be limited and that plain arithmetic cannot be the extent of Egyptians' work. The article also mentioned that Pythagoras and Thales (as well as others) had visited Egypt in order to study. Why would such great mathematicians choose to study somewhere if not to learn something new? There has got to be something more. There must be something missing. I would really love to know the true reason for Pythagoras and Thales traveling to Egypt to study. Could have ideas from Egypt contributed to Pythagoras' work?
Although what we know of Egyptians' work may not be all that exciting (from what I read - I totally acknowledge that there is a lot more that could be studied to know the extent of the Egyptians' work), the snowball effect of old information piling on and turning into new ideas really excites me. It's fun to see how far mathematics has come and I cannot wait to see where it leads us.
Here's a picture of the Rhind (Ahmes) Papyrus from the British Museum's website website. I just can't get over how cool this is!
Thanks for reading - I am still figuring out this whole blogging stuff. :)
http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/egypt_babylon/egypt.pdf
So, what we know of Egyptian mathematics comes from examples written on papyri. The Ahmes (or known as Rhind) Papyrus is 18 feet long (yes, you read that right) and 13 inches wide. They had a good grasp on arithmetic and its applications. Egyptians were able to solve equivalency problems, addition, multiplication and division all by use of grouping numbers and binary multiples. For example, let's take 52 * 9. By using its doubles, we are able to easily compute this.
1 *52 = 52
2*52 = 104
4 * 52 = 208
8 *52 = 416
Then since 1+ 8 = 9, then 52 + 416 = 468 which is 52 * 9. I really enjoy doing it this way. I'm not so sure why. Maybe it's the simplicity of it all.
I liked how the Ahmes Papyrus contained examples using beer and bread problems. They tried making the problems relatable, which would make it easier for one to understand. The Egyptians figured out Geometry problems which played a large part in their creation of pyramids. There's a specific problem that introduces the rise over run concept which then leads to the volume of a pyramid formula. This was problem #56 on the Ahmes Papyrus. It gave us the equation to find the cotangent of a pyramid, which then led to the tangent, sine and cosine values, which in turn leads us to a lot of information about triangles. Pretty intriguing stuff! Not all of the geometric calculations were accurate, though. Apparently, their idea for area of a circle and quadrilaterals weren't necessarily correct..but at least they got the area for isosceles triangles and trapezoids right. A+ for effort!
What's also worth mentioning is their calendar, which is the closest to being accurate to the "true year". Egyptians noticed the rise and fall of the Nile river and its predictability. I'd like to spend more time on this subject and investigate it further.
The article notes that what we do know about Egyptian mathematics may be limited and that plain arithmetic cannot be the extent of Egyptians' work. The article also mentioned that Pythagoras and Thales (as well as others) had visited Egypt in order to study. Why would such great mathematicians choose to study somewhere if not to learn something new? There has got to be something more. There must be something missing. I would really love to know the true reason for Pythagoras and Thales traveling to Egypt to study. Could have ideas from Egypt contributed to Pythagoras' work?
Although what we know of Egyptians' work may not be all that exciting (from what I read - I totally acknowledge that there is a lot more that could be studied to know the extent of the Egyptians' work), the snowball effect of old information piling on and turning into new ideas really excites me. It's fun to see how far mathematics has come and I cannot wait to see where it leads us.
Here's a picture of the Rhind (Ahmes) Papyrus from the British Museum's website website. I just can't get over how cool this is!
Thanks for reading - I am still figuring out this whole blogging stuff. :)
It's fascinating stuff, not least because it's such a mystery.
ReplyDeleteFor the post, it could use some more content to be complete. That paragraph where you speed through the big math ideas - spread it out, tell and show a little bit about those ideas. To wind it up, I'd be interested in what you still want to know?