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The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP; also designated as: papyrus British Museum 10057, and pBM 10058), is the best example of Egyptian mathematics. It is named after Alexander Henry Rhind, a Scottish antiquarian, who purchased the papyrus in 1858 in Luxor, Egypt; it was apparently found during illegal excavations in or near the Ramesseum. It dates to around 1650 BC. The British Museum, where the majority of papyrus is now kept, acquired it in 1865 along with the Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll, also owned by Henry Rhind;〔Clagett, Marshall Ancient Egyptian Science, A Source Book. Volume Three: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society) American Philosophical Society. 1999 ISBN 978-0-87169-232-0〕 there are a few small fragments held by the Brooklyn Museum in New York〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=Brooklyn Museum )〕 and an 18 cm central section is missing. It is one of the two well-known Mathematical Papyri along with the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus. The Rhind Papyrus is larger than the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, while the latter is older than the former.〔Anthony Spalinger, The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus as a Historical Document, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, Bd. 17 (1990), pp. 295-337, Helmut Buske Verlag GmbH〕 The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus dates to the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. It was copied by the scribe Ahmes (''i.e.,'' Ahmose; ''Ahmes'' is an older transcription favoured by historians of mathematics), from a now-lost text from the reign of king Amenemhat III (12th dynasty). Written in the hieratic script, this Egyptian manuscript is 33 cm tall and consists of multiple parts which in total make it over 5m long. The papyrus began to be transliterated and mathematically translated in the late 19th century. In 2008, the mathematical translation aspect remains incomplete in several respects. The document is dated to Year 33 of the Hyksos king Apophis and also contains a separate later Year 11 on its verso likely from his successor, Khamudi.〔cf. Thomas Schneider's paper 'The Relative Chronology of the Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period (Dyns. 12-17)' in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill: 2006, p.194-195〕 In the opening paragraphs of the papyrus, Ahmes presents the papyrus as giving "Accurate reckoning for inquiring into things, and the knowledge of all things, mysteries...all secrets". He continues with: This book was copied in regnal year 33, month 4 of Akhet, under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Awserre, given life, from an ancient copy made in the time of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Nimaatre (?). The scribe Ahmose writes this copy.〔 Several books and articles about the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus have been published, and a handful of these stand out.〔 The Rhind Papyrus was published in 1923 by Peet and contains a discussion of the text that followed Griffith's Book I, II and III outline 〔Peet, Thomas Eric. 1923. ''The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, British Museum 10057 and 10058''. London: The University Press of Liverpool limited and Hodder & Stoughton limited〕 Chace published a compendium in 1927/29 which included photographs of the text.〔Chace, Arnold Buffum. 1927-1929. ''The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: Free Translation and Commentary with Selected Photographs, Translations, Transliterations and Literal Translations''. Classics in Mathematics Education 8. 2 vols. Oberlin: Mathematical Association of America. (Reprinted Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1979). ISBN 0-87353-133-7〕 A more recent overview of the Rhind Papyrus was published in 1987 by Robins and Shute.〔Robins, R. Gay, and Charles C. D. Shute. 1987. ''The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: An Ancient Egyptian Text''. London: British Museum Publications Limited. ISBN 0-7141-0944-4〕 ==Book I== The first part of the Rhind papyrus consists of reference tables and a collection of 20 arithmetic and 20 algebraic problems. The problems start out with simple fractional expressions, followed by completion (''sekhem'') problems and more involved linear equations (''aha'' problems).〔 The first part of the papyrus is taken up by the 2/''n'' table. The fractions 2/''n'' for odd ''n'' ranging from 3 to 101 are expressed as sums of unit fractions. For example, . The decomposition of 2/''n'' into unit fractions is never more than 4 terms long as in for example . This table is followed by a list of fraction expressions for the numbers 1 through 9 divided by 10. For instance the division of 7 by 10 is recorded as: : 7 divided by 10 yields 2/3 + 1/30 After these two tables, the scribe recorded 84 problems altogether and problems 1 through 40 which belong to Book I are of an algebraic nature. Problems 1–6 compute divisions of a certain number of loaves of bread by 10 men and record the outcome in unit fractions. Problems 7–20 show how to multiply the expressions 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 and 1 + 2/3 + 1/3 by different fractions. Problems 21–23 are problems in completion, which in modern notation is simply a subtraction problem. The problem is solved by the scribe to multiply the entire problem by a least common multiple of the denominators, solving the problem and then turning the values back into fractions. Problems 24–34 are ‘’aha’’ problems. These are linear equations. Problem 32 for instance corresponds (in modern notation) to solving x + 1/3 x + 1/4 x = 2 for x. Problems 35–38 involve divisions of the hekat. Problems 39 and 40 compute the division of loaves and use arithmetic progressions.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhind Mathematical Papyrus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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