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Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-on Introduction to Ancient Mathematics Hardcover – April 27, 2014

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David Reimer (Author)
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David Reimer (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition edition (April 27, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691160120
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691160122
  • Product Dimensions: 1 x 9.2 x 10 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #708,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Most fun you can have with numbers.
By GreyFox on July 28, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book as absolutely amazing. But it is ONLY for people who are interested in and enjoy mathematics for recreation or for students that really need to learn something about the subject.

This is actually a mathematics textbook, with lessons, examples and exercises. Beware the exercises the author describes as "an especially good exercise".

Although it is a textbook, it is not a boring book, it is filled with Egyptian history and examples of Egyptian life and how they applied this mathematics to their every day problems, and how those problems influenced their calculations, and yes, how they used it to build the pyramids.

Be prepared for a shock. Except for the fact that they use numbers, their calculation methods are TOTALLY different from anything you have ever experienced.

Hint: How do you calculate the area of a circle? What constant "pi" do you use? Their equivalent constant was not 3.14, it was 8/9. Want to see how they did it?
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
An excellent introduction to a different system of mathematics
By Peter Aleff on October 9, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Despite its apparently limiting title “Count Like an Egyptian”, this book delivers all that its subtitle “A Hands-On Introduction to Ancient Mathematics” promises. Besides presenting a comprehensive overview of the ancient Egyptian computing methods, Professor Reimer also introduces you to the Mesopotamian sexagesimal system, then compares these with the Roman numerals and Mayan counting glyphs, as well as with the modern decimal and even binary ways of expressing numbers.

Yet, its main theme is ancient Egypt and goes far beyond mere counting. It teaches you in detail the unique and ingenious ways of calculating the Nile dwellers had developed, as well as an appreciation of the intellectual achievement they represent. Of course, acquiring the skill of working with Egyptian unit fractions may no longer have much practical value when inexpensive pocket calculators take the drudgery out of such reckoning. However, if you are curious about the mysterious realm of numbers, this book will help you to appreciate the differences between ancient and modern methods of dealing with these insubstantial entities that we can neither see nor touch nor smell but that we can nevertheless manipulate in many useful and precise ways and that also happen to govern many aspects of our lives.

Reimer explains that our term “unit fractions” for the Egyptian way of handling partial numbers wrongly leads us to compare their fractions with ours although they have much more in common with our decimal system. The latter is, after all, also a way of writing a sum of successively smaller fractions, from tenths to hundredths to thousandths and so on in open-ended strings of ever smaller parts.Read more ›
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
I just love this book "Count Like an Egyptian"
By Notebook Nut on July 16, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I just love this book "Count Like an Egyptian". You will never forget it, an unusual thing to say about a math book, and my highest praise. It is also a beautiful book to go through.

It is one of the most interesting and enjoyable volumes I have read in a while but it is also well written ... not to mention ... clear as a bell. discovering a "new" method which has been around for thousands of years was just astonishing. Fascinating subject and fascinating treatment. One thing is that the book has a friendly, approachable tone which draws you easily to the material. This is about the opposite of a 19th century German mathematics text, but it lacks no rigor. The author did a brilliant job.
And it is FUN!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Excellent!
By Edison Schroeder on June 22, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is a work of art, profusely illustrated, and one of best works on the history of mathematics that I've ever read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Note from Publisher: Kindle file updated
By P. Treadwell on November 5, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
The display issues noted by a Kindle customer were due to variations in font support in devices/readers. We have corrected the ebook file, capturing certain characters as images to ensure display accuracy across a range of devices and
readers; and have used a different approach for numbers with over lines.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Although it looks like a children's picture book
By Terrence G. Donnelly on October 11, 2014
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Although it looks like a children's picture book, it is a rigorous discussion of Ancient Egyptian math by someone who respects their accomplishments and has actually used their methods. An exciting and in-depth look at the subject.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Disappointing and Frustrating (KINDLE READERS BEWARE)
By Patricia P Nelson on September 19, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
After the glowing reviews, I found this book, which I bought in the kindle version, disappointing and frustrating because it should have been really enjoyable. (For the hardcover review, skip to the update.)

I am sure the course it is taken from would rate at least 5 stars. The book is well-written, the examples are well-chosen and the illustrations are clear and attractive. The author obviously knows his subject and enjoys sharing it with others. He occasionally over-explains, but his college's math entry standards may require that.

I can only assume that the glowing reviews were written by readers who didn't try to work the examples and practice problems or that the hardcover edition, which 5 of 6 reviewers read, avoided the typographical problems of the Kindle edition.

The problem is mainly the notation and some very poor proof-reading.

The author uses the standard English lower case alphabet to represent fractions. I would have expected the Greek alphabet or, at least, a different type face. Instead the reader encounters the apparent word "as" (frequently) and each time has to decide whether that represents the English word or the Egyptian fraction, 1/12. (An example is the calculation example on page 56 "Use inches and feet to simplify ' s h as feet". In this case the answer shows that 1/12 was meant.) Not to mention the expectation of those who still remember their algebra that it will mean the variable "a" times the variable "s". And maybe college students are more restrained than high school students, but I shudder to think how a class of tenth-graders would react to the statement on page 61 "We can think of h as being composed of two ass.Read more ›
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