Berlin papyrus

Encyclopedia : B : BE : BER : Berlin papyrus

The Berlin papyrus is an ancient Egyptian papyrus document from the 19th dynasty circa 1300 - 1200 BCE. This papyrus was found at the Saqqara ancient Egyptian burial ground in the early 19th Century.

The papyrus contains ancient Egyptian mathematical and medical knowledge including the first known documentation concerning pregnancy test procedures.

The Berlin Papyrus contains a problem stated as "the area of a square of 100 is equal to that of two smaller squares. The side of one is [\begin\frac \frac\end] the side of the other."Richard J. Gillings, Mathematics in the Time of the Pharoahs, Dover, New York, 1982, 161. The interest in the question may suggest some knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem.

See also

• Papyrology
• Timeline of mathematics
• Egyptian fraction

References