Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Examples of Ancient Egyptian multiplication and division

Here are examples of the Ancient Egyptian method of multiplication and division, by doubling and halving. They depend on the fact (clearly known in that culture) that all the whole numbers can be constructed from sums the powers of 2 (including 2^0, which equals 1).

Ancient Egyptians also used only unit fractions in the form 1/x, with the exception, for some reason, of 2/3 — something we will explore further. 

Take a good look at the division example. Would this technique work with all whole number divisors, or only even ones? Could this technique be used with other unit fractions?





                                                             Multiplying 22 by 7




                                                       Dividing 43 by 8

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