Rhind Mathematical Papyrus

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is one of the most famous surviving examples of ancient Egyptian mathematics. The scroll contains a massive collection of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry problems, providing immense insight into how Egyptians calculated fractions and areas.

The text was originally copied by a scribe named Ahmes (or Ahmose) around 1550 BCE. Ahmes explicitly notes on the papyrus that he was transcribing documents from the Middle Kingdom period, specifically from the reign of King Amenemhat III.

The majority of the papyrus is currently housed in the British Museum in London, which acquired it in 1865. A few small fragments of the scroll are also held by the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

The document famously includes an early mathematical approximation for the value of Pi. It also contains practical problem-solving examples for calculating the volume of a cylindrical granary and the slope of a pyramid's sides.