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Egyptian Mathematical Texts and Their Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2003

Annette Imhausen
Annette Imhausen
Affiliation:
Trinity Hall, Cambridge (England)
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Abstract

Argument

The extant sources for ancient Egyptian mathematics are extremely limited. It is therefore necessary to read the few sources carefully and use additional information from further Egyptian sources in order to achieve the most detailed picture possible. Traditional approaches to Egyptian mathematics have provided only a superficial account of mathematical practices and almost no information about the role of mathematics within Egyptian culture. To enlarge our knowledge it is crucial to use a different methodological approach in the analysis of ancient mathematical techniques. In addition, it is indispensable to contextualize the mathematical problems with sources that are not specifically mathematical per se. In this article I discuss several possibilities for these additional sources, such as administrative texts, reliefs found in tombs, and other archaeological evidence. I exemplify the use of these sources with two problems from the Moscow mathematical papyrus.

Type
Articles
Information
Science in Context , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 367 - 389
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press

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