Egypt was undoubtedly one of the most advanced civilizations of antiquity , Besides that visit the country bathed by the Nile It is still a great experience, the current findings have shown that they were ahead of their time. His numbering system was very sophisticated and curious at the same time. The Egyptians had already developed their method three thousand years before the birth of Christ. The Egyptian numbering system was with base 10, that is, they counted from ten to ten. Although its influence has been less, than that of other civilizations such as the Roman, the Egyptian numbers also have a certain weight in the current numerology.
The Egyptian numeration was a very important part in the history of this glorious civilization. In fact, one of the reasons why the Ancient Egypt highlighted among the rest of ancient peoples were their sophisticated advances in science as their numbering system. His mastery of mathematics and the practical application they made of them were commendable . The Egyptians were true masters when it came to drawing areas and surfaces. In this article we will help you to check the fascinating evolution of the Egyptian numbers, as well as to teach you to recognize them. Keep reading to discover more!
The Egyptian numbers
Brief history of the Egyptian numbers
The first thing that we must take into account, is that the Egyptian numbers are represented by ideograms and not because of the graphics we know. The numbers appeared at the beginning of hieroglyphic writing and ranged from one to millions. To represent small quantities, they used what was known as "Fractions of Horus " or unit fractions. Despite the importance and the great development of this numerical system, it was hardly used in the commercial transactions of the daily life of the Egyptians. This is because hieratic notation was used in most texts that used the Egyptian numeral system.
The signs that were used in the hieratic notation were different, there being one for each number from one to nine. Despite its great difficulty when it comes to understanding and writing, this annotation was used in common life . The discoveries of Egyptian numbers in hieratic annotation go back to the archaic period.
Details of the Ancient Egyptian numerical systems
The inhabitants of Ancient Egypt already mastered forms of advanced mathematics, it is believed that the basis of it was born in the empire located on the banks of the Nile. Dominate the ordinal and cardinal numbers . The whole number system was the simplest, since the number 1 was drawn with a vertical line and lines were added as they were added number. The 2 two lines, the 3 three lines, and so on. According to the archaeological findings, the names of the whole numbers that were known were the following: ua-1, senu-2, jemet-3, fedu-4, diu-5, beingsu-6, sejef-7, jemenu-8, pesedyu-9, medyu-10, dyebati-20, maba-30, jem-40, diiu-50, beings-60, sefejiu-70, jemeniu-80, pesedyiu-90, shet-100, ja-1,000, dyeba- 10,000, jefen-100,000 and jej-1,000,000.
However, these names were not used to write much, since to write dates ordinals were more used. These two numerical systems were obsolete when the Egyptian Empire adhered to Rome, the Empire had the habit of unifying all customs by discarding the traditions of the civilizations they conquered, and they were only used for honorary monuments.
The Egyptian numbers and their curiosities
One of the most striking things about the numerical system in Ancient Egypt is that it took more than a millennium to develop and incorporate the zero number . It was only used for the construction of great architectural works, such as the pyramids. They represented in the plans the base of the monument that was going to be built. This led me to use for the first time the negative numbers, which represented what was below the base, ie the basements or the subsoil of the mammoth constructions.
Likewise, the ancient Egyptians usually worked with fractions, divisions or multiplications . The greek they soon adopted and admired all these operations that were very useful to them and continued to be used many years after the disappearance of the Egyptian empire.
As you may have noticed after reading this article, we still owe a lot to the ancient Egyptians. The basis of mathematics and number systems that we know in the present time is due in large part to the wise inhabitants who dwelt on the banks of the Nile. To learn more about this magnificent civilization, you can also read this article on our website about the curiosities of Ancient Egypt.
As you are already a true expert, we would like you to give us your opinion. Did you know the importance of Egyptian numbers? Were you aware of its antiquity? Did you think that the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt had been so decisive in current mathematics? We are looking forward to reading all your comments on this interesting topic!