Posted on 11/26/2007 6:55:06 AM PST by blam
Why a Nile tadpole means a great deal
Ancient Egypt’s awkward numerical system was based largely on the natural world
November 22, 2007
George Hart
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.
It was important to be aware of lucky and unlucky days in the calendar. It was best to stay indoors when it was the birthday of the violent god Seth. If you had the bad luck to be born on that day, then, in modern jargon you would have difficulty getting life insurance.
GGG Ping.
From the picture, I think the vulture is trying to tell us that the optometrist on a skiing vacation.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks Blam. I've read (somewhere, probably a fringe source) that the Egyptian use of fractions was awkward, looks like it's true. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
WHAT?
And I thought I had trouble with modern math....
*sheesh*
WHAT?
And I thought I had trouble with modern math....
*sheesh*
ARGGHH!!
I have been wondering since the sixties what a cubit is.
“Riiiiight. What’s a cubit?”
For a detailed description see The Secrets of the Great Pyramid by Peter Thompkins.
In addition to that described, there were more formal and accurate definitions of the cubit used in work describing extreme accuracy.
Hey, um, bert? It was a reference to an old Bill Cosby skit...
humor, y’know?
....humor, y’know?...
Read the book anyway...you’ll like it ;)
Well, it looks like you’ve got multiplication down. ;’)
Now wonder why the babylon's used 60 and 360 as some of basics....of their math systems....?
> An overview of Babylonian mathematics
*****************EXCERPT****************
The Babylonians had an advanced number system, in some ways more advanced than our present systems. It was a positional system with a base of 60 rather than the system with base 10 in widespread use today. For more details of the Babylonian numerals, and also a discussion as to the theories why they used base 60, see our article on Babylonian numerals.
See link at post #14 for some ancient math that isn’t at all simple.
Modern math ain’t all that simple, either!
And I never could get multiplication right. *sigh*
Don’t feel bad, I have to take off my shoes to count past ten.
...and I have a degree in Math...
Look, those of you who think 2+2=4, arent thinking about it enough.
See? I can’t think about it enough to get past 2+2=4....
I have trouble with my checkbook: How can I be overdrawn when I still have checks left?
Well, if you define an abelion group with unity, revolving around your check book, you are not overdrawn, while you have checks.
...errr, let me know how that works out with the bank.
The bank corrected my faulty thinking. They said it might be better if I used an ATM card and bought money orders....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.