The Rhind Papyrus was originally purchased by Rhind in Luxor in 1858, then translated and published by 1927. The Rhind Papyrus measures approximately 18 feet (5.5 m) long and 13 in (33 cm) wide. The Rhind, maintained at the British Museum, consists of 85 problems, all of which remain legible.
Within the papyri, the mathematical applications extend to everyday problems such asthose dealing with feed mixtures to be used with cattle and questions relating to the allocation and storage of food. For example, problem 3 on the Rhind Papyrus concerns the division of six loaves of bread among 10 men. Other topics include exchange rates, inverse proportions, and harmonic means.
The Rhind also contains problems that utilize exponents. Problem 79, for example, states:
An estate consisted of seven houses; each house with seven cats; each cat eating seven mice; each mouse eating seven heads of wheat; each head of wheat capable of yielding seven hekats of grain. Houses, cats, mice, heads of wheat and hekat measures of grain, how many of these in all were in the estate.
This requires calculating the powers of seven up to 75 (7 houses, 49 cats, 343 mice, 2401 heads of wheat, 16807 hekats of grain) then adding them all to reach a total of 19607.
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