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The Egyptian Number System

The Egyptians had an advanced numeric system using hieroglyphs to represent numbers up to the millions. They used a decimal system with unique symbols to represent each power of ten. Numbers were written using an additive principle with the largest place value first from right to left. The Egyptians performed calculations similarly to modern methods, using an additive approach to addition and subtraction and a distributive approach to multiplication and division. Their system, though more time-consuming, demonstrated sophisticated mathematical concepts.

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469 views

The Egyptian Number System

The Egyptians had an advanced numeric system using hieroglyphs to represent numbers up to the millions. They used a decimal system with unique symbols to represent each power of ten. Numbers were written using an additive principle with the largest place value first from right to left. The Egyptians performed calculations similarly to modern methods, using an additive approach to addition and subtraction and a distributive approach to multiplication and division. Their system, though more time-consuming, demonstrated sophisticated mathematical concepts.

Uploaded by

Kristy Veyna Bautista
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Egyptian Number System

How do we know what the Egyptian language of numbers is? It has been found on the
writings on the stones of monument walls of ancient time. Numbers have also been found on
pottery, limestone plaques, and on the fragile fibers of the papyrus. The language is composed
of heiroglyphs, pictorial signs that represent people, animals, plants, and numbers.

The Egyptians used a written numeration that was changed into hieroglyphic writing, which
enabled them to note whole numbers to 1,000,000 . It had a decimal base and allowed for the
additive principle. In this notation there was a special sign for every power of ten. For I, a
vertical line; for 10, a sign with the shape of an upside down U; for 100, a spiral rope; for
1000, a lotus blossom; for 10,000 , a raised finger, slightly bent; for 100,000 , a tadpole; and
for 1,000,000, a kneeling genie with upraised arms.

Decimal Egyptian
 
Number Symbol
1= staff

10 = heel bone

100 = coil of rope

1000 = lotus flower

10,000 = pointing finger

100,000 = tadpole

1,000,000 = astonished man

This hieroglyphic numeration was a written version of a concrete counting system using
material objects. To represent a number, the sign for each decimal order was repeated as
many times as necessary. To make it easier to read the repeated signs they were placed in
groups of two, three, or four and arranged vertically.

Example 1.

1= 10 = 100 = 1000 =

2= 20 = 200 = 2000 =

3= 30 = 300 = 3000 =

4= 40 = 400 = 4000 =
5= 50 = 500 = 5000 =

In writing the numbers , the largest decimal order would be written first. The numbers were
written from right to left.

Example 2.

46,206 =   
Below are some examples from tomb inscriptions.
A B C D

77 700 7000 760,00

Addition and Subtraction

The techniques used by the Egyptians for these are essentially the same as those used by
modern mathematicians today.The Egyptians added by combining symbols. They would

combine all the units ( ) together, then all of the tens ( ) together, then all of the

hundreds ( ), etc. If the scribe had more than ten units ( ), he would replace those ten

units by . He would continue to do this until the number of units left was les than ten.

This process was continued for the tens, replacing ten tens with , etc.

For example, if the scribe wanted to add 456 and 265, his problem would look like this

   (= 456)

   (= 265)

The scribe would then combine all like symbols to get something like the following
He would then replace the eleven units ( ) with a unit ( ) and a ten ( ). He would then
have one unit and twelve tens. The twelve tens would be replaced by two tens and one one-
hundred. When he was finished he would have 721, which he would write as

Subtraction was done much the same way as we do it except that when one has to borrow, it
is done with writing ten symbols instead of a single one.

Multiplication

Egyptians method of multiplication is fairly clever, but can take longer than the modern day
method. This is how they would have multiplied 5 by 29

*1 29
2 58
*4 116
1 + 4 = 5 29 + 116 = 145

When multiplying they would began with the number they were multiplying by 29 and double
it for each line. Then they went back and picked out the numbers in the first column that
added up to the first number (5). They used the distributive property of multiplication over
addition.

29(5) = 29(1 + 4) = 29 + 116 = 145

Division

The way they did division was similar to their multiplication. For the problem 98/7 , they
thought of this problem as 7 times some number equals 98. Again the problem was worked in
columns.

17
2 *14
4 *28
8 *56
2 + 4 + 8 = 14 14 + 28 + 56 = 98
This time the the numbers in the right-hand column are marked which sum to 98 then the
corresponding numbers in the left-hand column are summed to get the quotient.
So the answer is 14. 98 = 14 + 28 + 56 = 7(2 + 4 + 8) = 7*14
Contributed by Lloyd Holt

References:
1. Boyer, Carl B. - A History of Mathematics, John Wiley, New York 1968
2. Gillings, Richard J. - Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs, Dover, New York,
1982

3. Jason Gilman, David Slavit, - Ancient Egyptian Mathematics., Washington State


University, 1995

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