Ancient Egyptian mathematics: New perspectives on old sources

Conclusions  Although Egyptian mathematics will probably never have the vast number of sources that still can be found in other cultures like India or Mesopotamia, there is more available than has been used so far.³³ The analysis of all the available mathematical texts, taken along with the additional material from administrative economic and literary contexts related to Egyptian mathematics, is certain to provide a better foundation for understanding its role within Egyptian culture. This integrated approach represents an important advance beyond the early studies that relied exclusively on an internal analysis of a small corpus of mathematical texts, which served for several decades as the sole basis for assessing nearly three millennia of mathematical life in ancient Egypt. By carefully rereading these classical mathematical texts while according the new sources a serious first reading, we may anticipate that the fate of Egyptian mathematics faces an exciting future.