Ancient Egyptian Math

    Math is something that has been around for much longer, and in a much more complex form, then the average person would expect. This week we looked at the math that was developed in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, and what we see, may be shocking to some people.


    While Egypt is known for having many great innovations, from having a fairly accurate calendar to being able to build the pyramids. However, much of the math that we see was used in more practical scenarios, such as the use of fractions to be able to divide bread evenly. While they didn't go to the abstract levels of math that we know today they still used math often to make their own lives easier.


    On top of Egyptians using math in more day to day exchanges, they also devised a way to do high level multiplication with ease, using different methods than we know today! Their method involved used a chart with 2 columns, in one you would write all the powers of 2 (2,4,8,16 etc.) up to the number smaller number you are multiplying by, and in the second column you would write multiples of the larger number (multiplying it by 2 each time) until you reach the last row (to line up with the powers of 2). You then figure out with combinations of the powers of 2 add up to the smaller number, and add those respective multiples of the larger number to get the answer!

    Doing it this way makes questions such as 21 x 18 much more manageable than they appear. This is but one example that shows that just because we learned it a certain way doesn't mean its the only way to learn it as well as it shows the level of math skill that people had even as far back as Ancient Egypt!












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