The Greeks are usually credited with inventing mathematics. However, the oldest recorded evidence for the use of mathematics was found in ancient Egypt and dated back to around 2000 BC.
Reading and writing numbers in ancient Egypt was relatively simple. It used a system of symbols. The higher number was always written in front of the lower number.
There was no sign for zero in the Egyptian numerical system. Scribes sometimes left a gap between numbers where a zero should be.
The Egyptian decimal system had seven different symbols.
Our knowledge of Egyptian mathematics is based on a tiny number of texts. The only evidence found so far comes from four papyri, a leather scroll and two wooden tablets.
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, found in a tomb in Thebes, is packed full of fractions and complex calculations relating to the volumes of triangles, rectangles and pyramids.
Despite the dry mathematical nature of the text, the last problem posed in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus may be an Egyptian joke. It asks how much corn might be saved if 343 mice were eaten by 49 cats in seven houses!
The Egyptians used mathematics in calculating how to set out the great pyramids. By working out the area of a circle according to the length of its diameter they could calculate the volume of a pyramid.
The ancient Egyptians had no abstract formulae like the Greeks. Instead, they tackled mathematical problems by a series of smaller calculations.
1 Was shown by a single stroke.
10 Was represented by a hobble (shed) for cattle.
100 Was represented by a coil of rope.
1000 Was represented by a lotus plant.
10,000 Was represented by a finger.
100,000 Was represented by a tadpole or a frog.
1,000,000 Was represented by a figure of a god with arms raised.
Scribes learned mathematics by copying set examples and replacing figures with their own answers. Archaeologists have discovered ancient exercise sheets, with teacher's markings on them.
