I was "outed" earlier today as being completely unworthy of having even the marginally fictive status of any Egyptian scribe, when I read:
"The scribe, obsessively attentive to methodology, ('to,' 'tep': methodological example), conducts ('iri': accomplish, effect, calculate) the following operations:"
P.483, AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD: 2780-330 B.C., "Calculating the Surface Area of a Hemisphere," by Theophile Obenga (2004).
Obsessive adherence to method is self-denial in the extreme and trust! The level of dedication, of devotion required to become so finely honed is most daunting from my point of view, well over 4,000 years later!
"Ancient Egyptian mathematicians knew the formula for calculating the surface area of a sphere: A = 4(pi)R^2, and the formula for calculating the volume of a cylinder: V = (pi)R^2 x h, as well as the fact that the ratio between a circle's surface and its diameter is a constant. Needless to say, well ahead of any school of Greek mathematics, they had also established the exact formula for the area of a circle: A = (pi)R^2, reckoning the value of pi to be 3.1605.
"Similarly, 2,000 years before the birth of Greek mathematics, the Egyptians also knew the formula for the volume of a pyramid, as demonstrated by Problem No. 14 of the 'Papyrus Moscow,' also known as the 'Papyrus Golenischeff,' currently kept at the Arts Museum in Moscow. The document contains 25 problems, two of them of particular importance, namely, Problem No. 10 (formula for calculating the surface area of a hemisphere) and Problem No. 14 (Formula for calculating the volume of a truncated pyramid)."
P. 488, Ibid.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
CALCULATING SPHERES AND SUCH
I was "outed" earlier today as being completely unworthy of having even the marginally fictive status of any Egyptian scribe, when I read:
"The scribe, obsessively attentive to methodology, ('to,' 'tep': methodological example), conducts ('iri': accomplish, effect, calculate) the following operations:"
P.483, AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: THE PHARAONIC PERIOD: 2780-330 B.C., "Calculating the Surface Area of a Hemisphere," by Theophile Obenga (2004).
Obsessive adherence to method is self-denial in the extreme and trust! The level of dedication, of devotion required to become so finely honed is most daunting from my point of view, well over 4,000 years later!
"Ancient Egyptian mathematicians knew the formula for calculating the surface area of a sphere: A = 4(pi)R^2, and the formula for calculating the volume of a cylinder: V = (pi)R^2 x h, as well as the fact that the ratio between a circle's surface and its diameter is a constant. Needless to say, well ahead of any school of Greek mathematics, they had also established the exact formula for the area of a circle: A = (pi)R^2, reckoning the value of pi to be 3.1605.
"Similarly, 2,000 years before the birth of Greek mathematics, the Egyptians also knew the formula for the volume of a pyramid, as demonstrated by Problem No. 14 of the 'Papyrus Moscow,' also known as the 'Papyrus Golenischeff,' currently kept at the Arts Museum in Moscow. The document contains 25 problems, two of them of particular importance, namely, Problem No. 10 (formula for calculating the surface area of a hemisphere) and Problem No. 14 (Formula for calculating the volume of a truncated pyramid)."
P. 488, Ibid.