The Egyptians are one of the earliest known and most well documented people to inhabit the Earth. They were one of the first people to respond to practical needs within agriculture, business, and industry. Moreover, archaeological and historical artifacts suggest that the Egyptians were among the first to develop the study of mathematics. This paper will discuss the development of mathematics in ancient Egypt, focusing on the use of hieroglyphs, the decimal system, and hieratic writing and numerals to demonstrate that the Egyptians made notable contributions to modern day understandings of mathematics.

The foundations of mathematics are strongly rooted in the history and way of life of the Egyptian people, dating back to the fourth millennium B.C. in Egypt. Egyptian mathematics was elementary. It was generally arrived at by trial and error as a way to obtain desired results. As such, early Egyptian mathematics were primarily arithmetic...