Egyptian Unit Fractions and Horses


Originally

12 = 1/12 + 1/3   + 1/2
12 = 1/12 + 4/12 + 6/12

With one less horse
11 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/12
11 = 6 + 4 + 1
Assuming round 1/2 of 11 is six horses, and 1/3 of is four horses and 1/12 of 11 is one horse.

The allocation using unit fractions does not change.

The benefits of unit fractions from Ancient Egyptian times still exist today, when dividing or allocations n number of items amongst x people, giving the unit fraction x/n, useful back then in rationing and still today.


Comments

  1. Susan GerofskySeptember 25, 2019 at 12:33 PM

    Good, Jovan! But I still wonder -- why might Egyptian unit fractions (1/x) be different from our fractions (y/x)?

    ReplyDelete

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