10 decimal system and splitting method
The ancient Egyptians adopted the decimal notation of 10 very early. The existing Reint papyrus (named after the discovery of 1858 by Henry Reint in Britain, now in the British Museum) and Moscow papyrus (now in Moscow) record many mathematical problems of the Egyptians. Although it is only a fragment, it still shows that their mathematics was quite successful at that time. They arranged the number of strokes into nine in turn, and then used an inverted U-shaped symbol to represent 10, but each digit of the three-digit 1 1 was represented by a special symbol instead of repeating 1 three times as it is now. This shows that the Egyptians did not fully grasp the decimal system of 10 at that time.
The arithmetic of ancient Egyptians was mainly addition and subtraction, and multiplication and division were also addition and subtraction. Fraction algorithm is the most distinctive arithmetic in ancient Egypt, which is also called splitting method-a method to calculate complex fractions with unit fractions. The four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions can be completed by splitting method, but the splitting method is quite complicated, which may hinder the development of Egyptian arithmetic to some extent. The ancient Egyptians could also solve some algebraic equations, such as simple quadratic equations with one variable.
Land Survey —— The Origin of Geometry
The ancient Egyptians summed up a lot of geometric theory knowledge from production practice and applied it to production practice, realizing the combination of theory and practice.
According to Herodotus, a Greek historian, because the Nile River overflows every year in Egypt, it is necessary to redraw the land boundaries to determine the taxes of these lands in that year, thus creating geometry. They established a method to calculate the area of a circle, that is, subtracting one ninth from the diameter and then squaring it, which is equivalent to using 3. 1605 as pi. Of course, they haven't got the concept of pi. They can also calculate the area of rectangle, triangle and trapezoid, and the volume of cube, cuboid and cylinder. They have a formula for calculating the volume of a square cone, which is completely consistent with the formula we use now. Although we can't see many mathematical documents of ancient Egyptians, the huge stone buildings of ancient Egyptians, especially the pyramids, tell us that those stones have been ground into cubes with almost no errors. It can be seen that the mathematical knowledge of ancient Egypt has reached a fairly high level.
20 meters long medical masterpiece
The earliest medical literature appeared in ancient Egypt around 3000 BC. The first Egyptian doctor who left his name was Ian Hotep, which means "safe visitor". He was the doctor and minister of King Zosai around 2900 BC. It is said that he was the founder of Egyptian medicine. The earliest medical literature in ancient Egypt found now mainly lists various prescriptions on papyrus, and rarely describes the disease itself. Elbers papyrus (named after the modern discoverer) is a masterpiece with a width of 30cm and a length of 20.23m.. The symptoms and diagnosis prescriptions of 47 kinds of diseases are described, including diarrhea, lung disease, dysentery, ascites and other internal diseases, pharyngitis, eye disease, throat and other five senses diseases, as well as nervous system diseases, gynecological diseases and pediatric diseases. In addition, anatomy, physiology and pediatrics were recorded. Explain that medicine at that time had reached a considerable level. Written in the 18th dynasty (about BC 1584-BC 1320), this book looks like a medical textbook. Although there are still some witchcraft superstitions, medicine has basically broken away from witchcraft.
In addition, the hieroglyphics used by ancient Egyptians to express internal organs are mostly similar to animal organs, indicating that they have also done a lot of anatomical research on animals, and the biological knowledge of ancient Egyptians has gradually enriched.
Ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the four ancient civilizations. The ancient Egyptians were not only famous for building pyramids, sphinxes and making mummies, but also invented many things that had a far-reaching impact on later generations.
The culture of ancient Egypt is very rich. The hieroglyphics created had a great influence on the later Phoenician letters, while the Greek letters were created on the basis of the Phoenician letters. In addition, the pyramids, the lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Amon and other buildings reflect the superb architectural technology and mathematical knowledge of the Egyptians, and have also made great achievements in geometry and calendar.
Ancient Egyptian characters
Ancient Egyptian script was founded 3500 years ago, which is a hieroglyph called the holy book. This kind of writing is one of the oldest human writing, and it is often engraved on tombs, monuments, temple walls or stones of ancient Egyptians, so it is called "sacred writing".
1799, French captain Pierre Fran? Ois Xavier Bouchard discovered the Rosetta Stone in the port city of the Nile Delta (now called el-Rashid) [source request]. There are three kinds of characters engraved on the stone, namely sacred characters, secular characters and ancient Greek characters. It was not until 1822 that Jean-Fran ois champollion, a French scholar, first learned that Egyptian hieroglyphs, which had always been regarded as expressing meaning through form, also had phonetic functions, which became the key clue to interpret all Egyptian hieroglyphs, and historians understood the meaning of "sacred words" on stone carvings.
Pyramids and the Sphinx
The pyramid is a huge triangular building made of big stones, which is the tomb of Pharaoh. Because the ancient Egyptians lived and farmed on both sides of the Nile, the pyramids were mainly built in desert areas. During the 900 years from 2700- 1800 BC, it is estimated that the ancient Egyptians built more than 80 pyramids. The Great Pyramid was built from 2589 to 2566 BC. It is the largest pyramid and was built for Pharaoh Khufu.
The ancient Egyptians built a "Sphinx" near the Great Pyramid. Up to now, no one knows the reason for building this huge stone carving composed of the "Sphinx", which represents the wisdom and courage of the Pharaoh. Some people think that the "Sphinx" may be the patron saint of the pyramids, while others think that it is a symbol of the great civilization of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian mathematics
The ancient Egyptians were one of the first people to know how to measure distance with their palms and forearms. At first, they counted numbers with their fingers, and then they created a number:
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Astronomy and calendar
Ancient Egyptian calendar
Ancient Egypt had a considerable level of astronomical knowledge. They made a calendar, the Coptic calendar, by observing the movement of the sun and Alpha Canis (that is, Sirius, which was called "Sob" in ancient Egypt, meaning the star on the water). The ancient Egyptians set a year as 365 days, 12 months a year, 30 days a month, and the remaining 5 days were festivals. The practice of using the solar calendar in ancient Egypt was the earliest in the world, and this calendar is similar to what we use today. The ancient Egyptians divided the year into three seasons, each with four months. They also invented the water clock and sundial (that is, counting by the reflection of the sun), which divided the day into 24 hours. Archaeological findings show that ancient Egyptians knew many constellations, such as Cygnus, Capricorn, Cassiopeia, Orion, Scorpio, Aries and the Pleiades. In addition, the ancient Egyptians also divided the zodiac stars and constellations into 36 groups, and added ten-day stars to the calendar, with a ten-day period of 10 days, which is similar to the concept of ten-day in the China lunar calendar. The concept of ten-day star appeared at least in the third dynasty of Egypt. [
Because of the obvious worship of the stars in ancient Egyptian culture [2], the priests were responsible for astronomical observation and recording. Every summer, when Sirius rises before dawn, the Nile begins to flood. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians believed that Sirius was the only god in charge of the holy Nile, so they built temples to worship Sirius. Others believe that the pyramids were built to observe Sirius. Through the accurate observation of Sirius, the Egyptians determined that the length of a year (Sirius year, that is, the sidereal year) was 365.25 days, which is quite close to the current calculated length. [69] The ancient Egyptians gave the sun a strong religious color, and there were only a few gods representing the sun, the most important of which were Rilla and Adon. Many pharaohs ruled Egypt by representing Lalai or Adon.
mother
It refers to ancient Egyptian corpses that have been preserved for a long time. These bodies can be preserved for thousands of years because of special treatment. First, the ancient Egyptians took out the internal organs of the corpse, then soaked them with special drugs, and then daubed them with salt and spices to absorb the water of the corpse; Finally, wrap the body with a long piece of cloth so that it won't rot. The mummy maker is an ancient Egyptian priest. In addition to mummifying the corpse, the priests also offered sacrifices to the gods and carved "sacred monuments" on the walls of Pharaoh's tombs, monuments and temples. Ancient Egyptians liked to put mummies in human coffins, and this coffin with mummies was buried in the grave. Archaeologists have unearthed many mummies all over Egypt today. These findings help us to understand the face and civilization of ancient Egyptians, and also help us to study the methods of ancient Egyptians to preserve corpses.
Cyperus papyrus L.
In addition to inventing plows, pumps and canals, the ancient Egyptians made the world's first paper from reeds around 2600 BC. The process of papermaking in ancient Egypt was very simple. They first cut reeds along the Nile, then put the cut reeds into the water, then put the soaked reeds horizontally and vertically, and dried them to make paper. In addition to the discovery of paper, the ancient Egyptians were also the first people in the world to know how to make pens for writing with reed stalks, and to mix black soot and mucus with water to make ink.
Religion in ancient Egypt
Religion is the most important part of ancient Egyptian culture, which runs through the whole history of ancient Egypt. There are four most important religious centers in ancient Egypt: Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermes and Thebes.
1. The relationship between God and man
The relationship between ancient Egyptians and gods can be summarized as follows: the gods warned people what to do and what not to do; There is evil in the world because people go against God's will. Evil will be rewarded, and good will be rewarded. The ancient Egyptians believed that God's guidance was realized through the tongue and mind. Because the heart is the organ that makes decisions and plans, and the tongue makes decisions and plans public. These two organs play a decisive role in human behavior. Kidney is the guide of these two organs, so he is the helmsman of life.
2. the theory of creating the universe
The ancient Egyptians believed that the world had no beginning and no end, and the world was in chaos. After the creation and rectification of the creator, the world began to exist. The ancient Egyptians believed that everything would go round and round and the world would never change. The ancient Egyptians' view of time naturally focused on the future, because the endless world was waiting for them to enjoy.
3. The afterlife theory
The ancient Egyptians believed that life is alive, which mainly depends on two elements: one is the visible human body, and the other is the invisible soul. The shape of the soul "Ba" is a bird with a head and hands. After death, Ba is free to fly away from the body. But the body is still the basis of Pakistan's dependence. To this end, a series of complicated ceremonies should be held for the deceased, so that his various organs can play a role again, and the mummy can be resurrected and continue to live in the afterlife. The dead need a stable place to live in the afterlife. The pyramids of the ancient kingdom and the tombs dug on the hillside by the middle kingdom and the new kingdom are the permanent residences of the dead. The ancient Egyptians believed that the world was short and the afterlife was eternal.
Weights and measures in ancient Egypt
The most important unit of length in ancient Egypt was the wrist ruler, which was about 20.62 inches from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. In hieroglyphics, it is represented by forearm and hand, which is pronounced meh. The wrist ruler is divided into 7 palms or 28 fingers, each palm is equal to 4 fingers. A square with a length of one cubit and a diagonal of half (29. 16 inch) is called Leimen, which can be divided into 20 fingers. It is the second unit of length and the main unit for measuring land. There is also a wrist ruler, only 17.72 inches, divided into 6 palms. The product of wrist ruler multiplied by 100 is called Arabic tea, which is the basic unit for measuring land. The square of this length, that is, 10000 square elbow, is also the unit of cultivated land area.
The main capacity unit of ancient Egyptians was Hanu, which was 29.0 0.3 cubic inches, and 65,438+00 Hanu was Hagardt. On the basis of quality classification, various multiplication operations are carried out to form a larger particle volume unit. Another unit of capacity is the card, which is equal to 2/3 cubic cubits, or equivalent to the capacity of a container with a diameter of 9 palms and a depth of 1 elbow. There is a certain approximate relationship between capacity and water, because a Hanu's water weighs 5 debens. It seems that the unit of capacity is derived from the unit of weight of water. Deben is the weight of an ankle ornament with the same name, and its110 is called Gardet, which is the weight of the ring.