of arithmetic that involved fractions, as well as some elementary problems in algebra (Berggren). The science of mathematics was further advanced in Egypt in the fourth millennium BC than it was anywhere else in the world at this time. The Egyptian calendar was introduced about 4241 BC. Their year consisted of 12 months of 30 days each with 5 festival days at the end of the year. These festival days were dedicated to the gods Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, and Nephthys (Gillings 235). Osiris was the god of nature and vegetation and was instrumental in civilizing the world. Isis was Osiris's wife and their son was Horus. Seth was Osiris's evil brother and Nephthys was Seth's sister (Weigel 19). The Egyptians divided their year into 3 seasons that were 4 months each. These seasons included inundation, coming-forth, and summer. Inundation was the sowing period, coming-forth was the growing period, and summer was the harvest period. They also determined a year to be 365 days so they were very close to the actual year of 365 days (Gillings 235). When studying the history of algebra, you find that it started back in Egypt and Babylon. The Egyptians knew how to solve linear (ax=b) and quadratic (ax2+bx=c) equations, as well as indeterminate equations such as x2+y2=z2 where several unknowns are involved (Dauben). The earliest Egyptian texts were written around 1800 BC. They consisted of a decimal numeration system with separate symbols for the successive powers of 10 (1, 10, 100, and so forth), just like the Romans (Berggren). These symbols were known as hieroglyphics. Numbers were represented by writing down the symbol for 1, 10, 100, and so on as many times as the unit was in the given number. For example, the number 365 would be represented by the symbol for 1 written five times, the symbol for 10 written six times, and the symbol for 100 written three times. Addition was done by totaling separately the units-1s, 10s, 100s, an...
