Photo : © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
How did the ancient Egyptians do their calculations?
ArkéoTopia welcomes Emmanuel Itié for a conference on ancient Egyptian mathematics during its monthly ArkéAuLogis at the Jean Nicot room in Paris.
Jean Nicot (Paris 7th)
About
ArkéoTopia welcomes Emmanuel Itié for its monthly ArkéAuLogis at the Jean Nicot room in Paris on October 24, 2026, at 2:00 PM.
Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing... We learned how to perform these operations in primary school. Today, they seem so natural to us that we rarely ask ourselves why we write calculations in this way.
But how was it done in ancient Egypt, over 3,000 years ago?
This conference invites you to enter the astonishing world of ancient Egyptian mathematics and discover how Egyptian scribes manipulated numbers written in hieroglyphs and hieratic. To lead the investigation, Emmanuel Itié will draw in particular on one of the most famous mathematical documents of antiquity: the Rhind Papyrus.
An accessible and surprising dive into the mathematics of ancient Egypt, which will make you look differently at an action as daily as performing an operation on a sheet of paper.
👉Find out more on the conference presentation page and ask your questions now using our form.
The speaker
Holding a Master's degree in Egyptian philology from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), completed under the tutorship of Andreas Stauder, Emmanuel Itié dedicated his research thesis to numeration in ancient Egypt in 2015. This conference is based on the research he conducted on Egyptian numerical systems and how scribes represented and manipulated numbers in their working documents.
Our take on this event
Forget the dusty arithmetic lessons of your school days and step into the brilliant minds of ancient Egyptian scribes. This talk peels back the layers of the mysterious Rhind papyrus to show how calculations were handled long before our current methods existed. Expect a fascinating, eye-opening journey into the world of ancient numbers that will completely change how you view a simple equation.
On Saturday, October 24, 2026, Jean Nicot hosts an engaging lecture on ancient Egyptian mathematics. Led by researcher Emmanuel Itié, this event examines the calculation methods used by scribes over 3,000 years ago, focusing on the famous Rhind papyrus. Suitable for those aged 16 and up, the session offers a unique look at hieroglyphic and hieratic numerical systems. The event is free to attend and runs from 14:00 to 15:30. The venue is fully accessible to wheelchair users, providing an inclusive environment for all history and science enthusiasts interested in ancient civilizations.
ArkéoTopia invites you to explore the fascinating world of ancient Egyptian scribes. On October 24, 2026, from 14:00 to 15:30, Emmanuel Itié—a specialist in Egyptian philology—will present a lecture on how ancient mathematicians performed basic operations like addition and division. Drawing from his own academic research and the historical record of the Rhind papyrus, he explains the logic behind the number systems used thousands of years ago.
The event takes place at the Jean Nicot venue in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is designed for an audience aged 16 and above, and the space is wheelchair accessible. Attendance is completely free, though registration is required via the official form provided by the organizers. Join this session to gain a new perspective on how numbers were recorded and manipulated in antiquity.
12°C
Weather forecast
Light rain
max +12 °Cmin +08 °C
