Madeline Danielson
Ms. Prewitt
H. Algebra II – E Block
8 May 2017
Egyptian Numbers
The numbers of Ancient Egypt arose around 3000 BC. At this time the Egyptian society was already advanced, urbanized, and expanding rapidly long before the creation of the written numeral system. The new advances in mathematics became too detailed for the human brain to remember so the need arose for the written system. The Egyptians felt the need to move away from oral culture because of the importance of the information being discovered thus the written langue was developed. Throughout history, different cultures have created different ways of representing numbers. Because of the need to record the many new mathematic findings in Ancient Egypt around 3000 …show more content…
It was created because of the need to record records as the civilization became more complex. This langue is not used today and only a few people can read it. It consists of “very detailed pictograms representing humans, in various positions, all kinds of animals, buildings, monuments, sacred and profane objects, stars, plants, and so on” (Ifrah 162). These symbols were used in the writing of both words and numbers. The written numbers were able to represent up to and beyond one million. The Egyptian’s used specific units for powers in writing their numbers. The different numbers are written using as a horseshoe, spiral, lotus flower, and raised finger. To write larger numbers Egyptians would repeat the hieroglyphics in order to reach a higher number. The writing of numbers allowed Egyptians to now be able to calculate and record many …show more content…
These numbers can be found in many places like on temples, stone monuments, and vases. When written, the Egyptian numbers had bases of 10 systems of hieroglyphs for numbers. There was a separate unit symbol for “one ten, one hundred, one thousand, one ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million” (Robertson and O’Connor 1). There are many speculations about the origins of the numbers like the numeral 1 “could have been ‘natural’” (Ifrah 168). A straight vertical is very simple is represent a single item. This straight line has been used for years to symbolize one thing. Like many other languages, the written numbers have the same characters or meanings that words do. For instance, in Chinese, the numeral for 1,000 means the same as a man. The numeral for 10,000, a slightly bent finger, in hieroglyphics does not mean an exact word but it “seems to be a reminiscence of the old system of finger-counting which Egyptians probably used” (168). The Rhind papyrus was a scroll about six meters long that contain eighty-seven problems that show the different techniques of the number system. This paper shows today that all hieroglyphs did not remain the same over the years of the Egyptian civilization. Throughout the year's many words changed but the written numbers almost the
Ms. Prewitt
H. Algebra II – E Block
8 May 2017
Egyptian Numbers
The numbers of Ancient Egypt arose around 3000 BC. At this time the Egyptian society was already advanced, urbanized, and expanding rapidly long before the creation of the written numeral system. The new advances in mathematics became too detailed for the human brain to remember so the need arose for the written system. The Egyptians felt the need to move away from oral culture because of the importance of the information being discovered thus the written langue was developed. Throughout history, different cultures have created different ways of representing numbers. Because of the need to record the many new mathematic findings in Ancient Egypt around 3000 …show more content…
It was created because of the need to record records as the civilization became more complex. This langue is not used today and only a few people can read it. It consists of “very detailed pictograms representing humans, in various positions, all kinds of animals, buildings, monuments, sacred and profane objects, stars, plants, and so on” (Ifrah 162). These symbols were used in the writing of both words and numbers. The written numbers were able to represent up to and beyond one million. The Egyptian’s used specific units for powers in writing their numbers. The different numbers are written using as a horseshoe, spiral, lotus flower, and raised finger. To write larger numbers Egyptians would repeat the hieroglyphics in order to reach a higher number. The writing of numbers allowed Egyptians to now be able to calculate and record many …show more content…
These numbers can be found in many places like on temples, stone monuments, and vases. When written, the Egyptian numbers had bases of 10 systems of hieroglyphs for numbers. There was a separate unit symbol for “one ten, one hundred, one thousand, one ten thousand, one hundred thousand, and one million” (Robertson and O’Connor 1). There are many speculations about the origins of the numbers like the numeral 1 “could have been ‘natural’” (Ifrah 168). A straight vertical is very simple is represent a single item. This straight line has been used for years to symbolize one thing. Like many other languages, the written numbers have the same characters or meanings that words do. For instance, in Chinese, the numeral for 1,000 means the same as a man. The numeral for 10,000, a slightly bent finger, in hieroglyphics does not mean an exact word but it “seems to be a reminiscence of the old system of finger-counting which Egyptians probably used” (168). The Rhind papyrus was a scroll about six meters long that contain eighty-seven problems that show the different techniques of the number system. This paper shows today that all hieroglyphs did not remain the same over the years of the Egyptian civilization. Throughout the year's many words changed but the written numbers almost the