Egyptian Numeration System

A detailed Summary of Egyptian Numeration System


More than 5,000 years ago an Egyptian ruler recorded, perhaps with a bit of exaggeration, the capture of 120,000 prisoners, 400,000 oxen, and 1,422,000 goats. This event was inscribed on a ceremonial mace which now is in a museum in Oxford, England.

The ancient Egyptians developed the art of counting to a high degree, but their system of numeration was very harsh. For example, the number 1,000 was symbolized by a picture of a lotus flower, and the number 2,000 was symbolized by a picture of two lotus flowers growing out of a bush. Although these symbols, called hieroglyphics, allowed the Egyptians to write large numbers, the numeration system, itself, was clumsy and awkward to work with. The number 999, for instance, required 27 individual marks.

The Egyptian symbols were usually written from highest to lowest in value. This shows that the


This Egyptian numeration system was used in ancient Egypt, of course, and it is still used today, just not quite as much as it was used in the past. The addition of the symbols is rather easy. For example, to add 361 plus 126 you would draw three coiled ropes, six heel bones, and one vertical staff ( ) to get 361 then you would draw one coiled rope, two heel bones, and six vertical staffs

Egyptians numeration system did use place value. Each symbol could be repeated as many as nine times. Sometimes the numbers were written from right to left, left to right other times.

( ) to show 161. After that you'd simply add them together as numbers and then convert them over to the Egyptian symbols. So the answer would be 487 and to show that you

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 572
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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