Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-on Introduction to Ancient Mathematics

“[An] introduction to the mathematics of the ancient Egyptians . . . in a beautifully designed volume that is much easier to read than a papyrus scroll.” —William Dunham, author of The Calculus Gallery

Count Like an Egyptian provides a fun, hands-on introduction to the intuitive and often-surprising art of ancient Egyptian math. David Reimer guides you step-by-step through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. You’ll be counting like an Egyptian in no time, and along the way you’ll learn firsthand how mathematics is an expression of the culture that uses it, and why there’s more to math than rote memorization and bewildering abstraction.

Reimer takes you on a lively and entertaining tour of the ancient Egyptian world, providing rich historical details and amusing anecdotes as he presents a host of mathematical problems drawn from different eras of the Egyptian past. Each of these problems is like a tantalizing puzzle, often with a beautiful and elegant solution. As you solve them, you’ll be immersed in many facets of Egyptian life, from hieroglyphs and pyramid building to agriculture, religion, and even bread baking and beer brewing.

Fully illustrated in color throughout, Count Like an Egyptian also teaches you some Babylonian computation—the precursor to our modern system—and compares ancient Egyptian mathematics to today’s math, letting you decide for yourself which is better.

“This book is a pleasure to read and makes Egyptian math a pleasure to learn.” —San Francisco Book Review

“An excellent addition to math classrooms at many different levels.” —Scientific American

“A mental adventure that . . . will appeal both to those who enjoy mathematical puzzles and to Egyptophiles.” —Library Journal

© 2014 Princeton University Press (Ebook): 9781400851416

Release date

Ebook: 11 May 2014