Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt [Hardcover]

Corinna Rossi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521829542 | ISBN-13: 978-0521829540 | Publication Date: May 31, 2004

Corinna Rossi explores the use of numbers and geometrical figures by the Ancient Egyptians in their architectural projects and buildings. Whereas previous architectural studies have searched for "universal rules" to explain the entire history of Egyptian architecture, Rossi reconciles the approaches of architectural historians and archaeologists by testing architectural theories. This book is essential reading for all scholars of Ancient Egypt and the architecture of ancient cultures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rossi's book is a fascinating and worthwhile study of ancient Egyptian mathematics and architectural planning."
Vanessa Smith, Expedition

"Rossi has provided a fine introduction and overview of ancient Egyptian architecture. Throughout, the book is well written, clearly structured and richly illustrated. Its success is built likewise on her double expertise in architecture and Egyptology, and on her attempt to cast her net for evidence wide enough to include textual as well as archaelogical evidence. She succeeds in reconciling the two types of sources to a detailed picture of the ancient architects, and it can only be hoped that this book will be followed by further research of the same kind." - Annette Imhausen, Cambridge University

"This beautifully written book explores ancient Egyptian building design in the light of surviving evidence of how the Egyptians planned and laid out their monuments and how they manipulated the numbers. Rossi's goal is to peel away anachronistic interpretations of the ancient structures and to find explanations matching a full range of primary sources. She succeeds admirably and her clear-eyed approach, informed by common sense and a grain of skepticism, results in a provocative and convincing study." - Diana Wolfe Larkin

Book Description

In this fascinating new study, architect and Egyptologist Corinna Rossi explores the use of numbers and geometrical figures by the Ancient Egyptians in their architectural projects and buildings. While previous architectural studies have searched for 'universal rules' to explain the entire history of Eyptian architecture, Rossi attempts to reconcile the approaches of architectural historians and archaeologists by testing architectural theories against the archaeological and historical evidence. Highly illustrated with plans, diagrams and figures, this book is essential reading for all scholars of Ancient Egypt and the architecture of ancient cultures.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521829542
• ISBN-13: 978-0521829540
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,663,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cambridge's normal skeptical view, December 14, 2005

By 

Milo (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt (Hardcover)

Several reviews of this book, published elsewhere, stress
the contents of Rossi's analysis were more focused toward
the skeptical side of Egyptian math and construction methods.
Rossi, therefore is being fairly depicted as publishing new information within unproven paradigms.

On the math side, Rossi mentions Fibonacci's algorithm
and phi, two paradigms that clearly were not used in ancient
Egypt, though many like to suggest that they were. The
Fibonacci algorithm idea was introduced after 1891 and J.J.
Sylvester's skeptical views of the RMP's 2/nth table, are
reference point to 1202 AD and the Liber Abaci, but not
a reference point of Egypt. Egypt used more subtle ideas
like http://egyptianmath.blogspot.com and http://akhmimwoodentablet.blogspot.com .

Yet, Hultsch in 1895 clearly showed that Ahmes in 1650 BC
easily wrote out 2/p series into short and concise unit
fraction series using a very simple partitioning method
(as Ahmes wrote out n/p answers in his 'false position'
algebra problems, ie. 5/19 written out in a long awkward
series using 1/12th as the first partition, as he did for 2/19,
as describe a couple paragraphs below. Ahmes wrote 5/19

per, 5/19 - 1/12 = (60 - 19)/(12*19) = (38 + 2 + 1)/(12*19)

or, 5/19 = 1/6 + 1/12 + 1/114 + 1/228).

Clearly modern scholars (two being Robins-Shute) have often suggested that 'false supposition' was used by Ahmes, hinting
that Ahmes guessed at his answers. Ahmes never guessed! Ahmes'
answers were always exact when he worked with rational numbers.

Moderm scholars were the ones that had guessed, and missed, finding Ahmes deeper methods. Interestingly no scholar, until
very recently, has claimed to have read Ahmes' shorthand
notes. Modern scholars had sadly filled inlogical gaps left
by Ahmes with their own intellectual guesses - many of which
have been proven to be wrong (as Rossi had not learned, since
he referenced none of the controversial Eguptian fraction and weights and measures issues).

Bruins also discovered the Hultsch method in 1945, and today
the method is named the Hultsch-Bruin method. It says that

2/p = 1/A + (2A -p)/Ap

where A, a highly divisible number selected in the range

p/2 < A < p

with the divisors of A uniquely added to (2A -p)
thereby solving (2A-p)/Ap.

Example,

2/19 = 1/12 + (24 -19)/(12*19)

= 1/12 + (3 + 2)/(12*19)

= 1/12 + 1/76 + 1/114

with the (4 + 1) alternative being discarded
since its last denominator was too large.


Rossi also mentions that Egyptian division may have followed
an inverse operation of its multiplication 'doubling' method.

Here also Rossi did not seen the simple remainder arithmetic
found in RMP #62 where 100/13 = 7 + 9/13 = 7 + 2/3 + 1/39.

Generally Ahmes and all scribes divided by this Q = quotient
and R = remainder method. The Akhmim Wooden Tablet even
shows a special method for grain and volume division where
a hekat unity 64/64 was divided by n, with n < 64, as

(64/64)/n = Q/64 + R/(n*64)

Even more interesting, Ahmes also used this method to
divide 100 hekat by 70, with his final form matching
the Akhmim Wooden tablet's special use of ro = 1/320th
of a hekat, by:

(6400/64)/70 = 91/64 + 30/(70*64)

and introducing ro = 1/320 of a hekat,

= (1 +16 + 8+ 2 + 1)/64 = (150/70)* 1/320

= 1+ 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/32+ 1/64 + (2 + 1/7)*ro

I'll not go on and discuss Rossi' view of Egyptian
architecture being the above her standard Cambridge
skeptical comments.

Overall, many accept Rossi's view as informative,
and I do as well, in limited areas. However, on the
math side of Rossi's quick use of a Sylvester's and
other recent skeptical techniques, all disproven years ago,
shows that her Cambridge training needs to be expanded
to read the Egyptian mathematical texts. Clearly Ahmes
and his brother/sister scribes are the only experts
that should guide our understanding of Egyptian math.