The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-08-16
THE SOURCE OF MATHEMATICS.
[Dr. G. Ebers, in Contemporary Revie,

Algebra is an Arabic word, denot
ing the science Of combining the sep
arated. The Moslems in Cairo zeal
ously cultivated it, and after they be
came to know Euclid they became
great mathematicians on the basis OF
the writings Of Clau1ius Ptolemeus.
and also great astronomers and ge.
ographers. In this province, too.
they owe to the ancient Egyptians
more than has hitherto been acknowi-
edged. 1t is by no means accidental
that the greatest mathematlcians of
Hellenic antiquity were styled pupils
of tho Egyptians. OF thatJit was said
of them that they had lived on the
Nile. Thales 600 B. CO. is reported
to have measured the height "f the
Pyramids by their shadow. Pythag;
oras lived long in Egypt. and stud
led particularly at Heliopolis. He
is said to have been master of the
Egyptian language, and Onuphis and
Sonchis are mentioned as his plinci
pal teachers. In the same city of
scholars was trained. under Nektaul-
bos l.. Eudemos Of Knidos (350. who
discovered, among other things, that
pyramid was the third part of a
prism whose base and height were
equal. 1t is we'll known that Euclid
wrote his elements in Alexandria
under the first Ptolemy (Soler.) The
great Eratosthenes, who was the first
to measure meridian Of the earth.
owed his success in doing SO to the
previous Investigations made in that
department by the Egyptians, who
we're already able to give With toler
able accuracy the distance in q
straight line from Alexandria to
Tyara. In all this there is nothing
that is new to mathematicians; but
few of them have any acquaintance
with the records that make known tc
us the state of mathematical science
among the Egyptians in the begin
ming of the second millennium B. C.
The Rhind papyrs, preserved in the
British Museum. may be termed :
hand book of ancient Egyptian math
ematlcs. 1t was written by a certain
Aahmesu, under one of the last Hyse
kings. and shows that the science o
ancient times continued to exist ever
under the hated conquerors- Th'
Heidelberg Egvptologist Eisenloh
has published this remarkable code,
and translation of it, with the assis
ltance of Kantor, the we'll known au
uhOrity on the history of mathematics
, Some OF the mistaken renderings q
these enthusiastically excusable o.
account of the great difficulty of th
matter-have been pointed out in
most acute and stimulating paper b
} l.. Rhodet, which we recommend t.
!, 1.-The attention of all mathematicians
2 The Rhind papyrs establishes the re
markable fact that certain prOcesse
3 of reckoning used by the writer Q
that very ancient document are iden
| tical with processes found among tn
+ Greeks, and through them among tn
Fl Arabs and the Western mathemat
0 clans of the Middle Ages, to whor
+ the writings OF the Arabs were mad
I known, for the most part bv JEWS
/ scholars. When we find. for example
e the arithmetical process of the falls
;. stating" to have been practiced fror
;. the time of Aahmesu (about 1900 I
e lC J down to the sixteenth century A
. fD.. that seems remarkable enough
but it is more astonishing still 20 fin
. that certain examples of progressio
. which extort smile from US on az
q count of the heterogeneous characte
! OF their arrangement, are containe
+ in the writings of Fibonacci Il .ona
do Won Pisa) about the wear 1900 4
n D., in exactly the same form in whic
e thew are given by Aahmesu. Tn
; fact, discovered by Rhodet, is so r
J, markable, SO easily understood, an
. so striking to the eye, that it will il
e Iterest even the lay mind. The EgyI
: tian example is stated thus Scribe
|fI Z; cats. ~ mice. 343; measures
d corn, 2,O41; bushels, 16,8C7-tots
e 19,6O7. That ls, there are Z scribe
Y and every scribe has Z cats (4y; al
every cat catches mice (343): al
II everv mouse in a given time eats
: measures of corn 2,4OD; and eve
when sown produces bus
is els (16,8O7). How much is the Who'll
re 1867.
icInck MADE Of BREAD.