Mathematics of Ancient Egypt. Numeration, metrology, arithmetic, geometry, and other problems.
Saffron| N° d'inventaire | 29627 |
| Format | 17 x 24 |
| Détails | 604 p., black and white illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Brussels, 2023 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
Second expanded edition. Knowledge of Ancient Egypt Collection (CEA), 12.
What have the texts of mathematical scribes left us, and what are the specificities of "their mathematics?" The numerous problems and excerpts analyzed come from the basic mathematical corpus dating from the Middle Kingdom, but also from administrative documents and more recent documents such as demotic papyri. What these texts teach us sometimes goes beyond the purely mathematical framework by giving information on the market values of products or services, the amounts of certain salaries or taxes, the forecasts of a construction site, the construction of architectural elements, the management of crops and livestock, or the production of beer. Rigorously scientific, this book is also intended to be educational. Most of the Egyptian texts are accompanied by a hieratic copy and a hieroglyphic transcription, and numerous figures illustrate the subject. Throughout the chapters, the reader will be able to discover, in particular, a new cartography of the Rhind papyrus, an overview of hieratic writing, an explanation of basic operations (on numbers and fractions), and an overview of the systems of quantities used (metrology). Arithmetic problems deal with finding unknown quantities, calculating square roots, and arithmetic progressions; geometry problems offer calculations of areas, volumes, and inclinations. In addition, the appendices include a glossary of mathematical terms encountered.
Second expanded edition. Knowledge of Ancient Egypt Collection (CEA), 12.
What have the texts of mathematical scribes left us, and what are the specificities of "their mathematics?" The numerous problems and excerpts analyzed come from the basic mathematical corpus dating from the Middle Kingdom, but also from administrative documents and more recent documents such as demotic papyri. What these texts teach us sometimes goes beyond the purely mathematical framework by giving information on the market values of products or services, the amounts of certain salaries or taxes, the forecasts of a construction site, the construction of architectural elements, the management of crops and livestock, or the production of beer. Rigorously scientific, this book is also intended to be educational. Most of the Egyptian texts are accompanied by a hieratic copy and a hieroglyphic transcription, and numerous figures illustrate the subject. Throughout the chapters, the reader will be able to discover, in particular, a new cartography of the Rhind papyrus, an overview of hieratic writing, an explanation of basic operations (on numbers and fractions), and an overview of the systems of quantities used (metrology). Arithmetic problems deal with finding unknown quantities, calculating square roots, and arithmetic progressions; geometry problems offer calculations of areas, volumes, and inclinations. In addition, the appendices include a glossary of mathematical terms encountered.