Numerals
Ancient Egyptian texts could be written in either hieroglyphs or in Hieratic. In either representation the number system was always given in base 10. The number 1 was depicted by a simple stroke, the number 2 was represented by two strokes, etc. The numbers 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 1,000,000 had their own hieroglyphs. Number 10 is a hobble for cattle, number 100 is represented by a coiled rope, the number 1000 is represented by a lotus flower, the number 10,000 is represented by a finger, the number 100,000 is represented by a frog and a million was represented by a god with his hands raised in adoration.
Hieroglyphics for Egyptian numerals
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10 |
100 |
1000 |
10,000 |
100,000 |
1,000,000 |
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Egyptian numerals date back to the Predynastic period. Ivory labels from Abydos record the use of this number system. It is also common to see the numerals in offering scenes to indicate the number of items offered. The King's Daughter Neferetiabet is shown with an offering of 1000 oxen, bread, beer, etc.
The Egyptian number system was additive. Large numbers were represented by collections of the glyphs and the value was obtained by simply adding the individual numbers together.
The Egyptians almost exclusively used fractions of the form 1/n. One notable exception is the fraction 2/3 which is frequently found in the mathematical texts. Very rarely a special glyph was used to denote 3/4. The fraction 1/2 was represented by a glyph that may have depicted a piece of linen folded in two. The fraction 2/3 was represented by the glyph for a mouth with 2 (different sized) strokes. The rest of the fractions were always represented by a mouth super-imposed over a number.
Hieroglyphics for some Egyptian fractions
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