Unexpected Links Between Egyptian and Babylonian Mathematics (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789812563286)

Mesopotamian mathematics is known from a great number of cuneiform texts, most of them Old Babylonian, some Late Babylonian or pre-Old-Babylonian, and has been intensively studied during the last couple of decades. In contrast to this Egyptian mathematics is known from only a small number of papyrus texts, and the few books and papers that have been written about Egyptian mathematical papyri have mostly reiterated the same old presentations and interpretations of the texts.In this book, it is shown that the methods developed by the author for the close study of mathematical cuneiform texts can also be successfully applied to all kinds of Egyptian mathematical texts, hieratic, demotic, or Greek-Egyptian. At the same time, comparisons of a large number of individual Egyptian mathematical exercises with Babylonian parallels yield many new insights into the nature of Egyptian mathematics and show that Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics display greater similarities than expected.

Author: Joran Friberg
ISBN-10: 9812563288
ISBN-13: 9789812563286
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Language: English
Published: 06/24/2005
Pages: 308
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.26w x 0.89d