COLOR: Ancient Egyptian Planning

Ancient Egyptian Planning

The ancient Egyptians were master planners. Their philosophy of M3't or Maat was: "truth," "accuracy," and "justice." This philosophy was central to both social and natural spheres, however, it applied mainly to the upper classes. Egyptian religious and mystical writings and drawings combined both their mathematical and astronomical wisdom.

There was relatively advanced mathematics practiced in Egypt during the first half of the third millennium BC, for example, they relied on plans for their architectural constructions. In addition to pyramids, there were temples, granaries, and irrigation networks on huge scales which required drawings and plans.

According to Egyptians, the tradition of making plans went back to Imhotep, at the beginning of the third dynasty, circa 3000 BC. Imhotep designed the Step Pyramid and the elaborate complex of buildings around it.

Measurements of this early period were used during later kingdoms. The precision and intricacy of the architectural constructions of the Old Kingdom was build on the mathematical principles worked out during this earlier period of African history. The ancient Egyptians were skilled at constructing tables and organizing data.

The Middle Kingdom dynasty used bookkeeping records similar to a double enrty account sheet with separate columns for each type of goods. Accounts were balanced at the end of the month. For each item, income and disbursements were added, and disbursements were subtracted from total income for the column.

Mathematics of Egyptian Planning

Model Granary, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII (c. 1938-1759 B.C.E.). Material: Painted wood. The men in the granary perform various functions. In the larger room, a man delivers threshed grain to a kneeling man who grinds it. Another man standing in this room packs flour in a storage container. In the smaller room, a seated supervisor watches as a worker places flour in large storage jars. The figures are painted reddish-brown, the traditional skin color for men in Egyptian art. Also, they wear long linen kilts.

Measurements exhibited by the pyramids of the Old and Middle Kingdom have some remarkable properties. One can find such relations as "pi" (I), and the right-angle triangle from them. They worked with fractions in a very sophisticated way, which allowed them to add, multiply, divide and take the square roots of fractions.

An architech's plan on a limestone at the Saqqara pyramid complex, dated 2700 BC, shows a drawing of a curved section of a temple roof. The curve in the sketch matches exactly the curve on the temple roof nearby. This plan shows the earliest known use of rectangular coordinates.

History of Mathematics in Africa

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