Multiples of these values were expressed by repeating the symbol as many times as needed. For instance, a stone carving from Karnak shows the number 4622 as One million (1000000), one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999999 and preceding 1000001. ... The infinity symbol ∞ in several typefaces. ... Coils of rope used for long-line fishing A rope (IPA: ) is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. ... Species About 50 species, including: Nymphaea alba- European White Water-lily Nymphaea amazonium Nymphaea ampla Nymphaea blanda Nymphaea caerulea- Egyptian Blue Water-lily Nymphaea calliantha Nymphaea candida Nymphaea capensis- Cape Blue Water-lily Nymphaea citrina Nymphaea colorata Nymphaea elegans Nymphaea fennica Nymphaea flavovirens Nymphaea gardneriana Nymphaea gigantea- Australian Water-lily... Tadpole of Littlejohns Tree Frog (Litoria littlejohni) A tadpole (also known as a pollywog or polliwog) is a larval amphibian, the juvenile form of a frog, toad, newt, salamander, or caecilian. ... Map of Karnak, showing major temple complexes Interior of Temple Al-Karnak (Arabic الكرنك, in Ancient Egypt was named Ipet Sut, the most venerated place) is a small village in Egypt, located on the banks of the River Nile some 2. ...

Egyptian hieroglyphs could be written in both directions (and even vertically). This example is written left-to-right and top-down; on the original stone carving, it is right-to-left, and the signs are thus inverted. Some writing systems of the world, such as Arabic and Hebrew, are written in a form known as right-to-left (RTL), in which writing begins at the right-hand side of a page and concludes at the left-hand side. ...

Fractions

Main article: Egyptian fraction

Rational numbers could also be expressed, but only as sums of unit fractions, i.e. sums of reciprocals of positive integers, except for 2/3 and 3/4. The hieroglyph indicating a fraction looked like a mouth, which meant "part": An Egyptian fraction is the sum of distinct unit fractions, such as . ... In mathematics, a rational number (commonly called a fraction) is a ratio or quotient of two integers, usually written as the vulgar fraction a/b, where b is not zero. ... A unit fraction is a rational number written as a fraction where the numerator is one and the denominator is a positive integer. ... In mathematics, the reciprocal, or multiplicative inverse, of a number x is the number which, when multiplied by x, yields 1. ...

Fractions were written with this fractional solidus, i.e. the numerator 1, and the positive denominator below. Thus, 1/3 was written as: The slash A slash or stroke, /, is a punctuation mark. ... In algebra, a vulgar fraction consists of one integer divided by a non-zero integer. ... In algebra, a vulgar fraction consists of one integer divided by a non-zero integer. ...

There were special symbols for 1/2 and for two non-unit fractions, 2/3 (used frequently) and 3/4 (used less frequently):

If the denominator became too large, the "eye" was just placed over the beginning of the "denominator":

Addition and subtraction

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For plus and minus signs, the hieroglyphs Image File history File links Information_icon. ... The plus and minus signs (+ and −) are used to represent the notions of positive and negative as well as the operations of addition and subtraction. ...

were used: if the feet pointed into the direction of writing, it signified addition, otherwise subtraction. 3 + 2 with apples, a popular choice in textbooks Addition is the basic operation of arithmetic. ... 5 - 2 = 3 Subtraction is one of the four basic arithmetic operations; it is essentially the opposite of addition. ...

Written numbers

Besides this numeral system, the ancient Egyptian language could also write out numbers as words, phonetically, just like one can write "thirty" instead of 30 in English. "Thirty", for instance, was written as Written records of the ancient Egyptian language have been dated from about 3200 BC. Egyptian is part of the Afro-Asiatic group of languages and is related to Berber and Semitic (languages such as Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

while the number 30 was

This was, however, uncommon for most numbers other than one and two.

Hieratic numerals

As most administrative and accounting texts were written on papyrus or ostraca, rather than being carved into hard stone (as were hieroglyphic texts), the vast majority of texts employing the Egyptian numeral system utilise the hieratic script. Instances of numerals written in hieratic can be found as far back as the Early Dynastic Period. The Old Kingdom Abusir papyri are a particularly important corpus of texts that utilise hieratic numerals. Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... An ostracon with Pericles name written on it (c. ... Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Champollion. ... The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt is taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from 2920 BC, following the Protodynastic Period of Egypt, until 2575 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. ... The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization complexity and achievement - this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley (the...

Boyer proved 50 years ago that hieratic script used a different numeral system, using individual signs for the numbers 1 to 9, multiples of 10 from 10 to 90, the hundreds from 100 to 900, and the thousands from 1000 to 9000. A large number like 9999 could thus be written with only four signs—combining the signs for 9000, 900, 90, and 9—as opposed to 36 hieroglyphs. Boyer saw the new hieratic numerals as ciphered, mapping one number onto one Egyptian letter for the first time in Western history. Greeks adopted the new system, mapping their counting numbers onto two of their alphabets, the Doric and Ionian. Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Champollion. ...

In the oldest hieratic texts the individual numerals were clearly written in a ciphered relationship to the Egyptian alphabet. But during the Old Kingdom a series of standardised writings had developed for sign-groups containing more than one numeral, repeated as Roman numerals practiced. However, repetition of the same numeral for each place-value was not allowed in the hieratic script. As the hieratic writing system developed over time, these sign-groups were further simplified for quick writing; this process continued into Demotic as well. Demotic script on a replica of the Rosetta stone. ...

Two famous mathematical papyri using hieratic script are the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus and the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. The Moscow and Rhind Mathematical Papyri are two of the oldest mathematical texts discovered. ... The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus ( papyrus British Museum 10057 and pBM 10058), is named after Alexander Henry Rhind, a Scottish antiquarian, who purchased the papyrus in 1858 in Luxor, Egypt; it was apparently found during illegal excavations in or near the Ramesseum. ...

Egyptian words for numbers

The following table shows the reconstructed Middle Egyptian forms of the numerals^[1] (which are indicated by a preceding asterisk), their transliterated forms in hieroglyphs (indicated between square brackets), and their later Coptic equivalents which give Egyptologists clues as to the vocalism of the original Egyptian numbers. The majiscule letter "A" in some reconstructed forms means that the quality of that vowel remains uncertain: Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Hieroglyphs at the Memphis museum with a statue of Ramesses II in the background. ... Coptic is the most recent phase of ancient Egyptian. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

See also

• Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian language
• Egyptian mathematics

References

• Allen, James Paul. 2000. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Numerals discussed in §§9.1–9.6.
• Gardiner, Alan Henderson. 1957. Egyptian Grammar; Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. 3rd ed. Oxford: Griffith Institute. For numerals, see §§259–266.
• Goedicke, Hans. 1988. Old Hieratic Paleography. Baltimore: Halgo, Inc.
• Möller, Georg. 1927. Hieratische Paläographie: Die aegyptische Buchschrift in ihrer Entwicklung von der Fünften Dynastie bis zur römischen Kaiserzeit. 3 vols. 2nd ed. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Reprinted Osnabrück: Otto Zeller Verlag, 1965)

Notes

1. ^ John B. Callender, Middle Egyptian, 1975

External links

• Introduction
• Egyptian numerals
• Numbers and dates
• Hieratic numerals
• http://egyptianmath.blogspot.com

Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Look up translate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Coptic is the most recent phase of ancient Egyptian. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up feminine in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The word masculine can refer to: the property of being biologically male masculinity, a traditionally male gender role the masculine grammatical gender This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... Written records of the ancient Egyptian language have been dated from about 3200 BC. Egyptian is part of the Afro-Asiatic group of languages and is related to Berber and Semitic (languages such as Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew). ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...