Department of Mathematics
Texas A & M - Commerce
Student/Faculty Colloquium
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Henderson 304, 2:00pm
Charles Dorsett,
Texas A & M - Commerce math department,
will speak on:
The Rhind papyrus deciphered
Abstract:
Most of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian mathematics is derived from
two sizable papyri, the Rhind Papyrus and the Golenischev Papyrus. A.
Henry Rhind purchased the Rhind Papyrus in 1858 in Luxor, Egypt. The
papyrus was written in about 1650 B. C. and reportedly contained work
dating to the Twelfth Dynasty, 1849 - 1801 B. C. Within the papyrus is
a table giving unit fraction decompositions of fraction decompositions
of fractions of the form 2/n, where n is an odd natural number from 5
to 101 (e.g. 2/5=1/3+1/15). Nowhere within the papyrus is there an
inkling as to how the decompositions were obtained. Ever since the
translation of the papyrus, mathematicians have tried to understand and
explain the construction of the table. Within this talk, the mystery is
ended.