The Zero Concept in Ancient Egypt

What is it about?

Ancient Egyptian numerals and their zero concept are part of the non-European foundations of classical Greek mathematics and provide valuable materials for the mathematics classroom. However, non-Western achievements are little known due to European and North American rewriting of history to justify slavery and colonial occupations. That rewritten version of history flatly stated that mathematics began in classical Greece (about 500 BCE). But that date was more than 2000 years later than the development of significant mathematics in North Africa and West Asia. Also, scholars in South and East Asia had developed valuable mathematics at an early date. Throughout history, cultures around the world have independently developed distinct number systems and distinct systems of recording numerals. In pre-Columbian Peru and Central America, astronomers and mathematicians developed positional-value systems of numerals that used different methods to indicate an empty or zero-valued position. Others, as in Ancient Egypt, used an additive numeral system, without place value. In that case, they had no need for a zero-placeholder. But ancient Egyptian mathematics did use zero as a number, as a magnitude in bookkeeping records containing zero balances. Also labels on construction guidelines, still visible at pyramid and mastaba construction sites, show use of a system of integers including zero. Humanity has moved from tally records to our modern numerals in several stages. A basic concept of modern numerals includes use of a single, abstract symbol to stand for a given number of tallies. For example, the artifact known as the Metropolitan Museum knife handle, crafted c.3100 BCE, showed one lotus blossom representing the value, 1000. One cipher, the lotus blossom, was used instead of 1000 tally marks. For everyday non-monument applications, cursive hieratic numerals were written, instead of hieroglyphic. It was the hieratic numerals that the much later classical Greeks used as a model for their numerals. The concept of infinity was also explored in the papyri and may have been developed because Ancient Egyptians made much use of series of numbers.

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Photo by Sumit Mangela on Unsplash

Photo by Sumit Mangela on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Reconstructing the history of the zero concept is an important part of reconstructing human history. That process has been affected by the rise of racist apologetics as a cover for centuries of the African slave trade and European and North American capitalist colonization of countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Bringing balance to that history by including thousands of years of research and discovery by people of color is essential. The Zero Concept in Ancient Egypt contradicts those who claimed, "Egyptians had no zero". It supplies the facts to show a well developed use of zero as a number and zero as an integer in a system of integers in ancient Egypt, 4,000 years ago. However, since Egyptian numerals were an additive, rather than a place-value system, they did not need zero as a placeholder.

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