Related papers: Sp\'eculation sur la g\'eom\'etrie en \'Egypte ant…
Egyptologists and historians of mathematics around 1930 did an admirable job in showing that problem 14 of the newly discovered Moscow Papyrus from around 1850 BCE amounts to a general and exact calculation of the volume of a truncated…
In his treatise addressed to Dositheus of Pelusium, Archimedes of Syracuse obtained the result of which he was the most proud: a sphere has two-thirds the volume of its circumscribing cylinder. At his request a sculpted sphere and cylinder…
There is little known about the methods used by the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians to arrive at their recorded estimates of the value of Pi. A surprisingly accurate estimate of Pi was recently revealed coded within a verse in the book of…
Pyramids are the greatest architectural achievement of ancient civilization, so people all over the world are curious as to the purpose of such huge constructions. No other structure has been studied as thoroughly, nor have so many books…
A problem that is simple to state in the context of spherical geometry, and that seems rather interesting, appears to have been unexamined to date in the mathematical literature. The problem can also be recast as a problem in the real…
A series of peculiar, visual alignments between the pyramids of the pharaohs of the 4, 5 and 6 Egyptian dynasties exists. These alignments governed from the very beginning the planning of the funerary monuments of successive kings and, in…
Lecture given before the Royal Academy Vienna that summarizes the state of knowledge about the mathematics of the ancient Egyptians, up to 1884. Contains all relevant references to classical Greek texts, and the 'latest' archeology results.…
The study of the mathematics and geometry of ancient civilizations is a task which seems to be very difficult or even impossible to fulfil, if few written documents, or none at all, had survived from the past. However, besides the direct…
It is known since the 19 century that in the layout of the pyramid field of the pharaohs of the 4 th Egyptian dynasty at Giza, a main axis exists. Indeed, the south-east corners of these monuments align towards the site of the temple of…
This article studies three-dimensional objects and their volumes in Elamite mathematics, particularly those found in the Susa Mathematical Tablet No.\,14 (\textbf{SMT No.\,14}). In our discussion, we identify some basic solids whose volumes…
We will discuss about a possible method of using the cubit rod by the architects and the surveyors of Ancient Egypt to measure and draw lengths, comparing it with the other interpretations present in Literature. Instead of the modern…
Pythagoras' theorem, the area of a triangle as one half the base times the height, and Heron's formula are amongst the most important and useful results of ancient Greek geometry. Here we look at all three in a new and improved light, using…
This article discusses the reasons for the choice of the sexagesimal system by ancient Sumerians. It is shown that Sumerians chose this specific numeral system based on logical and practical reasons which enabled them to deal with big…
Ever since Flinders Petrie undertook a theodolite survey on the Giza plateau in 1881 and drew attention to the extraordinary degree of precision with which the three colossal pyramids are oriented upon the four cardinal directions, there…
Ratios and coefficients are used to simplify calculations. For geometric usage these values also called function values. Like in Egypt also in Babylon such a value system can be shown. The reconstructed calculation sequence, of the Plimpton…
The architectural complexes composed by the two main pyramids of Giza together with their temples are investigated from an inter-disciplinary point of view, taking into account their astronomical alignments as well as their relationships…
This paper looks at how ancient mathematicians (and especially the Pythagorean school) were faced by problems/paradoxes associated with the infinite which led them to juggle two systems of numbers: the discrete whole/rationals which were…
How were surfaces evaluated before the invention of the sexagesimal place value notation in Mesopotamia? This chapter examines a group of five tablets containing tables for surfaces of squares and rectangles dated to the Early Dynastic…
A recent announcement of some pyramids, buried under the sand of Egypt and discovered by means of infrared remote sensing, renewed the interest on the archaeological surveys aided by satellites. Here we propose the use of images, obtained…
In this paper I shall show that the formula 0:4,48 times circumference squared for the area of a circle, which occurs in a few Babylonian mathematical texts, can be traced back to at the latest the twenty-third century BCE.