My thoughts on the Surveying in Ancient Egypt Article

 The Surveying in Ancient Egypt article outlines surprisingly sophisticated methods to measure distance, angle and area. As a modern math teacher, I take the tools and the metric system for granted. The mural which we discussed in class was indeed a depiction of a bureaucrat measuring the area of a flooded field. The measurement can then be used to redistribute land.

The measurement of royal cubit, or 7 palms, or 28 fingers and short cubit, or 6 palms, or 24 fingers were used to measure distance. Mentioned in the article, both units were used. Based on the division, I wonder if short cubit was used more due to its divisibility from the prime factor of 2 and 3 while the royal cubit has only prime factor of 2 and 7.

Another question arose from reading was the definition of cubit, the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. This must have been the definition for a Pharaoh or a royalty, and it's clear that Egyptians had understanding of precise mathematics. My speculation is that an initial approximate measurement is done first, and then later calibrated to be an agreed-upon length. The exact same question can be posed about the unit of foot used by the imperial system.

What surprised by in the article was that 'the orientation of the pyramids according to the cardinal points is generally thought to have been motivated by stellar elements in the Ancient Egyptian religion.' The invention of Merkhet was of a multitude of applications instead of just astro surveying. The sophistication of the Egyptian math continues to surprise me. Introducing these historical knowledge in a math class can help students relate to the application of geometry.

Comments

  1. Erica HuangSeptember 24, 2024 at 4:53 PM

    Excellent points, Raymond! Interesting observation about the factors for royal cubit and short cubit. The sophistication of ancient Egyptian math is indeed fascinating. Several of your classmates have the same question about if and how a cubit is standardized, too. Good connection to the imperial system!

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