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The Numbers Behind the Pyramids

History · Ancient Egypt · ages 11-13

Name ______________________ Date ____________

About how many math problems does the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus hold?
Answer: ______________
A builder wants to check whether a tall door frame stands perfectly straight up and down. Which of these could she use as a plumb line?
- A long wooden ruler held flat against the frame
- A heavy metal bolt tied to the end of a piece of string
- A rope pulled tight between two trees
Who copied out the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus more than 3,500 years ago?
- A pharaoh's chief builder
- A scribe named Ahmes
- A doctor writing about medicine
How close to true north is the Great Pyramid aligned?
- Within about a tenth of a degree
- Within about 5 degrees
- Within about 50 degrees
The Rhind Papyrus has a problem where 1 loaf of bread is shared evenly among 3 people. What fraction does each person get?
- 1/4
- 1/3
- 1/2
A farmer plans crops on a square plot with sides 7 units long. Using the scribe's method, side times side, what is the area in square units?
Answer: ______________
An Egyptian surveyor swings his sighting line until it points straight at the North Pole. What is the name for the direction his line now faces?
- The direction where the sun rises
- The direction the Nile flows
- True north
A square field on the papyrus covers 36 square units. Using the scribe's method in reverse, how long is each side in units?
Answer: ______________
Mia wonders why historians treat an old scroll of math problems like the Rhind Papyrus as a treasure. What is the best answer?
- It is made of gold, so it is worth a lot of money
- It proves the Egyptians built pyramids with machines
- It shows, in a scribe's own writing, the real problems Egyptians solved more than 3,500 years ago
The Great Pyramid's sides point toward true north and are off by less than a tenth of a degree. What does this tiny error tell us about Egyptian surveyors?
- They just got lucky with this one pyramid
- They worked with great care and skill, even without modern tools
- They secretly used modern compasses

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

The Numbers Behind the Pyramids W1-mt_PPNDO7BUrY-s1

84 · The papyrus holds about 84 problems on area, volume, and fractions.
A heavy metal bolt tied to the end of a piece of string · A plumb line is a weight on a string. Gravity pulls the weight, so the string hangs in a perfect vertical, giving a straight-up line to compare the frame against.
A scribe named Ahmes · A scribe named Ahmes copied the scroll of math problems. Scribes were the trained writers of ancient Egypt.
Within about a tenth of a degree · Egyptian surveyors lined up the pyramid's sides so precisely that they are off from true north by less than a tenth of a degree.
1/3 · Splitting one whole into 3 equal parts gives each person 1/3, a unit fraction.
49 · 7 times 7 equals 49, the same side-times-side method Ahmes used for fields.
True north · True north means the exact direction of the North Pole. A line aimed at the North Pole faces true north, the fixed direction the surveyors trusted.
6 · The method is side times side, so find the number that times itself gives 36. That number is 6.
It shows, in a scribe's own writing, the real problems Egyptians solved more than 3,500 years ago · The papyrus is a direct window into Egyptian maths: about 84 real problems copied by the scribe Ahmes.
They worked with great care and skill, even without modern tools · Such a tiny error is not luck. It comes from careful star watching and patient checking with tools like the plumb line.