Rhind/Ahmes Mathematical Papyrus

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The Rhind/Ahmes mathematical papyrus was transcribed by a scribe named Ahmes between the end of the Egypt’s Middle Kingdom and the genesis of the New Kingdom. As such, it is written in hieratic and claims, among other things, to be a “thorough study of all things, insight into all that exists, knowledge of all obscure secrets.” It contains a collection of 84 exercises geared for students of mathematics. Included are exercises in arithmetic, notations, fractions, algebra, geometry, and mensuration. An example of one of the problems included is: “In seven houses there are seven cats. Each cat catches seven mice. Each mouse would have eaten seven ears of corn and each ear of corn, if sown, would have produced seven gallons of grain. How many …show more content…

Therefore, it would have been too expensive to own for most people, but if one were ambitious and wanted a role within the Egyptian state, it would be a valuable document to possess. In an earlier papyrus, the Lansing papyrus, the scribe wrote for his pupils “See, I am instructing you ... so that you may become one who is trusted by the king, so that you may open treasuries and granaries, so that you may take delivery from the corn-bearing ship at the entrance to the granary, so that on feast days you may measure out the god’s …show more content…

It also tells you how to calculate how much to feed your free range geese as opposed to ones kept in a coop. According to one of the problems, one gave less grain to the captive geese as they did not have the opportunity to move much; so they would be cheaper to fatten up for the market, ergo, more profitable. Obviously, animal rights activists were not plentiful in ancient

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