Quote: the oldest mathematical text book contains first degree equations; Egyptian papyrus from about 1700 B.C.

Quotation

Simple equations of the first degree in one unknown, of the type ax=b, are found in the oldest mathematical text-book which we possess, the Ahmes papyrus of about 1700 B.C., which was published with a German translation by Eisenlohr [Leipzig, 1877, E.A. Wallis Budge, London 1898]. This Egyptian document presents not only first degree equations together with symbols for the unknown quantity and the operations of addition and subtraction, but also shows traces of a study of simultaneous linear equations some two thousand years before the Christian Era.   Google-1   Google-2

Published before 1923

Related Topics

Topic: history of mathematics (57 items)