[math-fun] Modern Egyptian mathematicians
Do any of you have connections with any contemporary Egyptian mathematicians? I'm asking because I'm curious about the wooden "quarter circles" (not really quarter circles but that's apparently what they're called) that have been found near the pyramids and that may have played a role in their construction. Knowing the precise dimensions of these objects might enable one to assess some theories of their purpose (such as Gerard Fonte's theory that the bounding arcs were approximate catenaries, and that large blocks of limestone were rolled end over end along tracks made of the catenaries). Fonte tells me that these relics are not on display, but are held by the Egyptian government. I am quite politically naive, but I'm guessing that an Egyptian mathematician with an interest in understanding ancient Egyptian technology would stand a chance of gaining access to the quarter-circles and taking some photographs (or at least recording their dimensions). Jim Propp
You might ask Mohamed El Naschie (though whether one could call him a mathematician is debatable). He was (at least before Mubarak was ousted) very well connected in the Egyptian government. On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 6:34 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Do any of you have connections with any contemporary Egyptian mathematicians?
I'm asking because I'm curious about the wooden "quarter circles" (not really quarter circles but that's apparently what they're called) that have been found near the pyramids and that may have played a role in their construction. Knowing the precise dimensions of these objects might enable one to assess some theories of their purpose (such as Gerard Fonte's theory that the bounding arcs were approximate catenaries, and that large blocks of limestone were rolled end over end along tracks made of the catenaries).
Fonte tells me that these relics are not on display, but are held by the Egyptian government.
I am quite politically naive, but I'm guessing that an Egyptian mathematician with an interest in understanding ancient Egyptian technology would stand a chance of gaining access to the quarter-circles and taking some photographs (or at least recording their dimensions).
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Mike Stay - metaweta@gmail.com http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~mike http://reperiendi.wordpress.com
Google Books lets you to see a lot of "The Pyramid Age", by Emmet John Sweeney, which has a great deal of information about those quarter circles. —Dan
On Jul 6, 2015, at 6:34 PM, James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
Do any of you have connections with any contemporary Egyptian mathematicians?
I'm asking because I'm curious about the wooden "quarter circles" (not really quarter circles but that's apparently what they're called) that have been found near the pyramids and that may have played a role in their construction. Knowing the precise dimensions of these objects might enable one to assess some theories of their purpose (such as Gerard Fonte's theory that the bounding arcs were approximate catenaries, and that large blocks of limestone were rolled end over end along tracks made of the catenaries).
Fonte tells me that these relics are not on display, but are held by the Egyptian government.
I am quite politically naive, but I'm guessing that an Egyptian mathematician with an interest in understanding ancient Egyptian technology would stand a chance of gaining access to the quarter-circles and taking some photographs (or at least recording their dimensions).
On 2015-07-06 18:34, James Propp wrote:
Do any of you have connections with any contemporary Egyptian mathematicians?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourad_Ismail (BCCed) --rwg
I'm asking because I'm curious about the wooden "quarter circles" (not really quarter circles but that's apparently what they're called)
carpenters say quarter round: https://www.google.com/search?q=quarter+round&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
that have been found near the pyramids and that may have played a role in their construction. Knowing the precise dimensions of these objects might enable one to assess some theories of their purpose (such as Gerard Fonte's theory that the bounding arcs were approximate catenaries, and that large blocks of limestone were rolled end over end along tracks made of the catenaries).
Fonte tells me that these relics are not on display, but are held by the Egyptian government.
I am quite politically naive, but I'm guessing that an Egyptian mathematician with an interest in understanding ancient Egyptian technology would stand a chance of gaining access to the quarter-circles and taking some photographs (or at least recording their dimensions).
Jim Propp
participants (4)
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Dan Asimov -
James Propp -
Mike Stay -
rwg