Egypt
New York Times (Pam Belluck)
- In The Lab
Video: Salima Ikram talks about animal mummies Heritage Key Salima Ikram is an excellent presenter and this is a great introduction to the process of animal mummification, accompanied by some footage of animal mummies. Dr Ikram shows two handfuls of natron,...
- No Calculators, Just A Brush And Papyrus
The Signal David Reimer, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, presented "The Strange Math of the Egyptians" at the College on Nov 14. The lecture focused on re-evaluating how modern mathematicians view ancient Egyptian mathematics. Reimer,...
- Last Chance To See Rhind Papyrus
http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Culture&F=1&id=9899"The Egypt Centre at Swansea University will say goodbye to one of Ancient Egypt's most mysterious artefacts next week, when the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is returned to its permanent home...
- Rhind Papyrus & Vr Book Of The Dead
http://tinyurl.com/bdzde "An ancient Egyptian mathematical scroll believed to be more than 3,500 years old will go on display in Wales on Thursday. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus has been lent to the University of Swansea from the British Museum for a...
- Who Tamed Who
This story about the domestication of cats leaves me to wonder about tolerance rather than "taming". The human home always had mice and I am sure that wild cats were probably tolerated long before they became pets. When the cats around but there are no...
Egypt
Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus
New York Times (Pam Belluck)
I met a man with seven wives. ...”
You may know this singsong quiz,
But what you might not know is this:
That it began with ancient Egypt’s
Early math-filled manuscripts.
It’s true. That very British-sounding St. Ives conundrum (the one where the seven wives each have seven sacks containing seven cats who each have seven kits, and you have to figure out how many are going to St. Ives) has a decidedly archaic antecedent.
An Egyptian document more than 3,600 years old, the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, contains a puzzle of sevens that bears an uncanny likeness to the St. Ives riddle. It has mice and barley, not wives and sacks, but the gist is similar. Seven houses have seven cats that each eat seven mice that each eat seven grains of barley. Each barley grain would have produced seven hekat of grain. (A hekat was a unit of volume, roughly 1.3 gallons.)
The goal: to determine how many things are described. The answer: 19,607.
The Rhind papyrus, which dates to 1650 B.C., is one of several precocious papyri and other artifacts displaying Egyptian mathematical ingenuity.
- In The Lab
Video: Salima Ikram talks about animal mummies Heritage Key Salima Ikram is an excellent presenter and this is a great introduction to the process of animal mummification, accompanied by some footage of animal mummies. Dr Ikram shows two handfuls of natron,...
- No Calculators, Just A Brush And Papyrus
The Signal David Reimer, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, presented "The Strange Math of the Egyptians" at the College on Nov 14. The lecture focused on re-evaluating how modern mathematicians view ancient Egyptian mathematics. Reimer,...
- Last Chance To See Rhind Papyrus
http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Culture&F=1&id=9899"The Egypt Centre at Swansea University will say goodbye to one of Ancient Egypt's most mysterious artefacts next week, when the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is returned to its permanent home...
- Rhind Papyrus & Vr Book Of The Dead
http://tinyurl.com/bdzde "An ancient Egyptian mathematical scroll believed to be more than 3,500 years old will go on display in Wales on Thursday. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus has been lent to the University of Swansea from the British Museum for a...
- Who Tamed Who
This story about the domestication of cats leaves me to wonder about tolerance rather than "taming". The human home always had mice and I am sure that wild cats were probably tolerated long before they became pets. When the cats around but there are no...