Rhind Mathematical Papyrus 2/n Table - Comparison To Other Table Texts

Comparison To Other Table Texts

An older ancient Egyptian papyrus contained a similar table of Egyptian fractions, the Lahun Mathematical Papyri, written around 1850 BCE is about the age of one unknown source for the Rhind papyrus. The Kahun 2/n fractions were identical to the fraction decompositions given in the Rhind Papyrus' 2/n table.

The Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll (EMLR), circa 1,900 BCE lists decompositions of fractions of the form 1/n into other unit fractions. The table consisted of 26 unit fraction series of the form 1/n written as sums of other rational numbers.

The Akhmim wooden tablet wrote fractions in the form 1/n in terms of sums of hekat rational numbers, 1/3, 1/7, 1/10, 1/11 and 1/13. In this document a two-part set of fractions were written in terms of Eye of Horus fractions which were fractions of the form and remainders expressed in terms of a unit called ro. The answers were checked by multiplying the initial divisor by the proposed solution and checking that the resulting answer was, which equals 1.

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