Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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, who is currently writing his own textbook, has studied the history of math going back to simple calculations by cavemen, but ancient Egypt "is really a favorite subject," he said.

"I maintain that Egyptian math is faster than our math," Reimer argued. "I can perform Egyptian math nearly twice as fast at my best."

Reimer backed this statement with a brief history on ancient Egypt and how its math was created. Two texts on ancient Egyptian math currently exist, the Rhind and Moscow papyri, however, half of the Moscow papyrus has disappeared.

See the above page for more.

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