Facsimile of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus in the British Museum

Abstract

THE Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, a facsimile of which the Trustees of the British Museum have just issued, together with an introduction by Dr. Wallis Budge, is the document from which we gather most of what we know of the conception and use of mathematics by the ancient Egyptians. The papyrus does not contain a systematic treatise on mathematics, nor does it attempt to deal with the subject from a scientific standpoint. It consists rather of tables and sets of worked out problems, such as would constantly require to be solved by an Egyptian master-builder, land-owner, farmer or estate-agent. In consequence of the inundation, the area of an Egyptian farmer's holding was constantly changing in extent, so that the need of some practical method of measuring area was pressing. The farmer after harvest would need some plan for estimating the storage space required for his grain; the cattle-owner and employer of labour would constantly have to face problems connected with the distribution of fodder and provisions; the builder would require some method for estimating the angle of a pyramid to be erected upon a given base. Such problems as these were of everyday occurrence, and they forced the ancient Egyptian to employ his ingenuity in solving them. How far he was successful, and to what extent he proved himself a mathematician, we can gather from the Rhind Papyrus.

Facsimile of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus in the British Museum.

With an Introduction by E. A. Wallis Budge., Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. 21 Plates. (Printed by Order of the Trustees.)