1. Math & Science
In
Ancient Egypt & Ancient
Greece
By: Ryan Key
& Andy Valkov

2. Introduction to
Ancient Math
The Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks were very good in
math and used it in many practical ways in their lives.
The Egyptians based their units of measurement on the human
body. They could add, subtract, multiply and divide, and they
knew how to use fractions to find the area of rectangles,
circles and triangles.
Some people say the Greeks were the inventors of math. They
were very good in geometry and decided on standard ways to
draw, making straight lines with a ruler and drawing circles
with a compass. All angles and shapes could be constructed
with these.
We found out that many of the kinds of math calculations we do
now came from Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Here are
some topics that we found interesting.

3. Math In Ancient Egypt
The Cubit
The Egyptians came up with standard ways to measure
anything. One of their main measurements was the
cubit. The cubit was the distance from a man’s elbow
to the tip of his middle finger. This measurement
was used for many things in construction and
distances or lengths.
Egyptian farmers were charged taxes based on the size
of their farms. The measurements were made in
cubits. If a farmer’s land was measured by a tall man,
then he could end up paying less tax than a farmer
whose land was measured by a shorter man, as the
taller man’s arms would be longer, so the farm that
was measured by the tall man could be less cubits.

4. Math In Ancient Egypt
Pyramids
Measurement and angles were very important for
building of the pyramids.
Each stone block for each level of the pyramid needed
to be exactly the same size, and have right angles on
each edge. Each layer on the pyramid was built
slightly smaller than the previous layer. If the blocks
weren’t exactly the same, the sides of the pyramid
would not be straight, and the height of each level
would be slanted and eventually it would tip.
The Egyptians created many tools to make sure the
building was done perfectly. This includes what we
now call a plumb-line, which is a string with a weight
on the bottom of it that hangs down in a perfectly
straight line, and a mason’s square which makes sure
corners are built in right angles.

5. Math In Ancient Greece
Measurement
The Ancient Greeks used math in many day to day
activities. They were really good in geometry. You can
see this in the design of many of their buildings.
The Ancient Greeks were famous for teaching and
debating. Because they loved to debate and argue
they also questioned and debated whether all the
ways they used math would be the same in different
situations.
Many of these math rules had to do with angles and
triangles. They figured out how to measure the height
of a building by using the sun and the shadow it would
create. They could measure the height of a pillar on a
building by measuring how long the shadow was on the
ground instead of climbing up the building. This same
math rule could also see how far away ships were in
the sea.

6. Math In Ancient Greece
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes was a mathematician who used the angles
of shadows the sun to figure out the earth’s
circumference. The noon sun in the city of Syene
didn’t make a shadow in a well but the noon sun in the
city of Alexandria did. Eratosthenes figured out the
only explanation was because the earth was curved.
He calculated the angle to be 7 1/5-degrees, then used
multiplication to figure out 50 of these angles would
create a 360-degree circle. The distance between
the cities was about 480 miles, so 480 x 50 would be
about the distance around the world.
This was in about 240 B.C., more than 1700 years before
the explorer Magellan sailed around the world.

7. Conclusion
As you can see, a lot of the math we use today
is similar to the types of math that the
Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks used
centuries ago. The principles or rules behind
math calculations have been proven to be
right and are still true now.
Also standards that were created back then,
have created tools like rulers and plumb-lines
that are still in use today.

8. Introduction to
Ancient Science
Now we know about Math but now
we’re going to look at science in
ancient Egypt & Greece Egyptians
focused on ships, Medicine and
astronomy while Greeks focused on
Military and Architecture Ancient
Egypt is more ancient than Ancient
Greece without these civilizations
the world could have been much
worse.

9. Astronomy, Calendars and Time in
Ancient Egypt
In astronomy before building a Pyramid with the help of an astronomer you’d choose
the location. Ancient Egyptians arranged their Temples and Pyramids to reflect a
planet or star somewhere in Egypt 10 pyramids were arranged like the solar systems
orbits. The best science and astronomy time in Egypt was the Old Kingdom age. They
discovered the Great Bear and Orion star clusters. The night sky or Astronomy was
mostly studied by Priests. They knew that the earth was round and they had an idea
on how big the Earth and/or solar system could have been. Some of their discoveries
were influenced by foreigners that went to Egypt. They could find North by standing
in the center of a circle and tracing of a star from east to west then marking the
point in between as North so Stars could be used for navigation. They used Stars to
work out the earliest calendars some 5,000 years ago back then. They saw the year as
3 months with the same length. At some point back then the begging of a new year
was the rising of the Star Sirius they were also the first to get the idea that a day
had 24 hours. Once a year Sirius rose in the morning in directs line with the sun that
was a new year but there were problems with the leap year. They had some ways of
telling time like the Sundial which used the suns light while it was slowly setting but
this didn’t work on cloudy days, stormy days or night time or any time the Sun was not
shining so a new type of clock was produced a water clock a Water Clock was a stone
bucket with a hole in the bottom and a scale inside to mark the time as the water
level fell it was the most accurate time telling device of that time and it was very
popular and common and was used until the 13th century. They used messengers on
foot and camel to transport messages.

10. Medicine and Body Science in
Ancient Egypt
In medicine the Egyptians learned about the inner workings of a body by their
dissection of animals. Back then it was a tradition of sacrifices. They also learned
from mummification it was a tradition of preserving the bodies of dead wealthy
people. Some ancient Egyptian texts try to explain the inner workings of the human
and animal body. Doctors set broken bones using wooden splints and dressed
wounds with plant fibers, oil, honey, and medicines made of plants and/or minerals
and/or animals they performed surgeries using knives, forceps, and wooden and/or
metal probes they had no anapestics or numbing potions while doing their surgery.
There were also doctor for animals. Doctors knew that the heart had something to
do with the pulse but they also incorrectly thought the heart was speaking a
message in the pulse and that it controlled the body and feelings. They did not
realize that the brain was important however they knew a bit about the nervous
system and understood effects of the injury of the spine. They had many mixtures
for different medicines they used herbs, minerals, animal products, oils and shrubs
some include squeezing animal fats filled with herbs to get a juice which they use
as medicine they didn’t have medicines for inside the body only outside. Some of
their remedies were effective some were not some were even harmful due to their
dangerous ingredients. They also had a nutritious drink from wheat and barley.
Surgeons cleaned their surgical blades in fire and kept the surrounding area as
clean as possible. They knew a bit about electricity by observing lightning and
coming in contact with electric animals like the electric eel but they never used
electricity.

11. Inventions, Pyramids and Water
Management in Ancient Egypt
When an wealthy Egyptian wants to make a Pyramid he/she needs a nice location an astronomer finds them a
location which is mirroring some planet or star in the sky then they need to turn that place into flat land for
a good foundation many think cut channels and fill them with water then cut everything to the water level
like this 1; the water levels out in the small ditch or channel. 2; Slaves and /or Laborers cut the whole area
the Pyramid needs to that exact level. 3; they fill the ditch up with rocks again. 4; they start building the
Pyramid. Sow they knew water took up any shape. They used granite to protect the outside of the Pyramid
and they put booby traps and other things to stop grave robbers. Pyramids were used as graves. They built
their houses out of bricks. The bricks were made of mud and chopped straw. They mixed the mud and straw
and then poured the mixture into molds. The molds were placed in the sun to bake into hard bricks. The
roof was made of reed mixed with something sticky. They knew about rocks and minerals at some point they
made most of their tools out of copper, then they switched bronze and later to iron. Iron was the best for
them since it was so strong. They could melt mold and cool some metals to make new shapes, metals or tools.
Some theories suggest that they could make glass. They used simple machines like the incline plane the lever
and the wheel to help them with building Pyramids. They used spatially engineered ships to transport
materials to the construction site they used sled to haul stones across the sand since it acted like snow.
Pyramids influenced their science a lot they invented Pyramids too along with Papyrus sheets (Papyrus is an
early form of paper) it was made from the Papyrus plants that grew along the shores of the Nile workers
cut papyrus stems into shorter pieces and peeled them then they were soaked in water then they were
arranged in a double layer covered with cloth and pounded with a mallet until the strips were matted
together these sheet were then polished, with a rounded stone trimmed and pasted end to end ready for
use slaves sometimes. They also invented Black ink (which was made by grinding pigmented minerals then
mixing them with a liquid, the ox drawn plow, the pyramid, the water clock, the sundial, and the sun calendar
and eye makeup. They made eye makeup using led for the black color and copper for the green or gold color.
Another invention is a Nilometer (The Nilometer was a gauge used to measure the water level of the Nile
this could be used to predict when the Nile will flood. Big catch basins were built to trap water as the Nile
floods receded workers dug canals leading to field further away this was used to transport water to fields
in need of it they also used ditches to raise water up from a river farmers used something called a Shadoof
sort of like a bucket picking up water and bringing it up its still used today.

12. Ships All Shapes & Sizes in
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian ships were the quickest and most efficient way of transport in Egypt at the time. The
Nile flows south but the wind blows north this means that boats can drift south with the current and sail
north by turning on their sails and catching wind going north and possible rowing. The earliest Egyptian
boats were made of reeds bound together (reed is a plant) these boats were only for short range trips
such as fishing later they were later replaced with wooden planks for a faster more stable ship. There
were boats for battle, transportation, transportation of cargo, funerals for the rich, and merchant and
pleasure ships. Cargo ships are often called Barges some are so big they has to be sailing and/or rowing
ships towing the Barge away Barges are often used to bring materials to Pyramid or Temple construction
sites. Ships usually had oars at the back to help steer this part of a boat was called the Stern. Some
ships had sails and oars others just had sails and others just had oars oars helped them travel against
the current and against the wind. Egyptian ships were constructed so that they could be dismantled
easily this means that they can be dismantled transported on land then built again at sea. An early type
of reed boat called a Coracle had its frame made of reed and animal hides and the outside was coated in
tar to make it watertight. Egyptians used donkeys when traveling on land. Funeral Boats or Funeral
Barges took the dead to their tomb. When the Sea Peoples from northern Mediterranean invaded Egypt
Ramesses l l l sent a fleet or small Navy of warships against them. The warships were designed to crash
into the enemy ships and create holes in their ships without damaging their own ships. This was one of
the best first Navys of the ancient world it defeated the Sea Peoples because he Egyptians had both
oars and sails this made them more maneuverable while the Sea Peoples had only sails. Their ships were
flat bottomed usually made of carved wooden planks they usually had 1 or more sails and over 3 oars
sometimes the ships had 2 or more decks for more cargo space. Buried next to the great Pyramid of King
Khufu was a small preserved wooden boat it lay there in pieces when it was reassembled it formed King
Khufu’s boat so Egyptians believed that people sailed away to the afterlife on a boat. Queen Hatshepsut
sent a fleet of 5 specially designed ships on an expedition to the land of Punt thought to lie on the east
coast of Africa the expedition was a great success boats were very useful. So remember without the
ancient Egyptians we could have still been in the 18th, 17th or even 16th century.

13. Medicine and Health in
ancient Greece
The Ancient Greeks were the newer and more modern ancient civilization. They built on to what the ancient
Egyptians started and added some of their own things while doing it. Greeks were very interested in using
scientific observation and logic to figure out what caused diseases and what you could do about them. This logical
system began with the idea of humors, which was popular all over Europe and Asia at this time, in India and China
as well as Greece. The doctors believed that people were made out of four substances: blood, black bile, yellow
bile, and phlegm (pronounced FLEM). If you were healthy, that was because your four humors were balanced. You
had the right amount of each one. But if you had too much of one humor, you would be unbalanced and you would
feel ill. These ideas were all wrong but still they had some correct ideas like the fact that having a dirty
environment could cause illness. The Greeks looked at how the organs worked, and studied how a disease
progresses they also did dissections to see what was inside the animal and human body they investigated how our
minds work. Doctors set broken bones using wooden splints and possibly a little bit of metal and dressed wounds
with plant fibers, oil, honey, and medicines made of plants and/or minerals and/or animals they performed
surgeries using knives, forceps, tweezers, spoons, small saws and wooden and/or metal probes they had no
anapestics or numbing potions while doing their surgery just like the ancient Egyptians except their medicine
remedies were more effective. There were also doctor for animals but only very very few that only the rich could
afford. They probably knew a bit about the pulse and the nervous system. Doctors looked at emotional and
physical symptoms of a disease to diagnose the patient they mostly had external medicines. Olive oil was also
possibly used as a medicine it was made by crushing olives with stones they taking the juice left and calling it Olive
oil. They did not have Sugar so they used flower scented Honey instead. Student Doctor had to swear an oath that
they’ll live a “Pure and Holy” life. They made makeup from mineral pigments and plant or berry juices. Anaximander
argues that humans cannot always have existed. The first living creatures, he believes, develop in water through
the action of heat.

14. Astronomy, Clocks and
Navigation in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek astronomy was like Ancient Egyptian astronomy but more advanced now I’m going to tell you
a list of Greeks and what they discovered in astronomy astronomy was studied by all sorts of people Thales
acquires fame by predicting a solar eclipse in 585 BC. Anaxagoras made important contributions to
astronomy. He saw valleys, mountains and plains on the moon. He determined the cause of an eclipse. He
recognized that the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and Mercury move. Eudoxus improved the sundial
and made a map of the known stars. Speaking of Sundial Ancient Greeks used sundials but they weren’t as
popular as water clocks. Democritus realized the Milky Way was composed of millions of stars and that the
moon is similar to Earth. Aristotle decided the earth must be a globe. Eratosthenes estimated the size of
the earth. Euclid thought that light travels in straight lines or rays. . Aristarchus argued that the sun was
about nineteen times the size and distance of the moon. Hippocrates of Nicaea was the first to discover
the slow reorientation of the earth's axis. Anaximander is credited with being the first man to attempt a
map of the world. Anaximenes believed all is a natural phenomenon, rather than the work of a god. Ptolemy
of Alexandria wrote a book was called the the 'big explanation'. It is a summary of all astronomical
knowledge of his age. Aristarchus of Samos estimated the distance of the sun from the Earth by
observing the angle between the sun and the moon when it is exactly half full. Hipparchus of Nicea
developed a system of planetary motion with the Earth at the center. He used data from a total eclipse of
the sun and parallax to determine correctly the distance and size of the moon. Pytheas the Greek
geographer and explorer. sailed into the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea where he observed the strong
Atlantic tides. He correctly assumed that these were caused by the moon. Plato is said to have invented a
water clock with an alarm. Speaking of Water Clock it was the most popular time keeping device it was
modified. Andronikos of Kyrrhestes built in Athens the Tower of Winds, a water clock combined with solar
clocks, the most famous time-keeping device of the Greeks. Greeks also used stars as maps for navigation
they even had compasses. The Greeks developed philosophy as a way of understanding the world around
them, without resorting to religion, myth, or magic. They used Astronomy to fix their calendar.

15. Greek Life Made Possible
by Science in Building
Ancient Greek homes were made of Sun dried mud bricks and possibly metal roofs were made of
baked clay tiles but the poor used straw in very very very few rich homes there was an inner
courtyard a kitchen they used water a cauldron and a stirring mallet or stirring stick for cooking
they had a storage room a bedroom a bathroom to get water they took it from a well and
possible heated it up over a flame to get warm water they used a water filled bowl over a stand
or pedestal as a sing and they used a tub filled with warm water as a bathtub they stored water
in jars. Some homes had heating from a fire place the heat from a flame heated up the house
until finally the smoke comes out the chimney tier trash room was called a Flue. They also built
Temples from wood then they switched to stone so these guys knew about rocks they had metal
mines and were able to mold and make some metals even glass slaves worked in mines in ancient
Greece, Egypt and many more. They had painters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, sculptors and rock
cutters. Archimedes discovered the usefulness of the fulcrum, lever and other simple machines
that the Egyptians did not discover theses aided them in their building he also discovered
buoyancy. Also once Archimedes got into his bathtub he noticed that his body caused some of
the water to spill over the side. That got him thinking about the amount of water that was
displaced. He had discovered the principle of displacement. He then discovered a way to
calculate the volume of an irregular solid by submerging it in water and measuring the volume of
water it displaced. They had water systems similar to the Ancient Egyptians. For eating they
used spoons and knives they even had Democracy so they were pretty good with building just
like the Egyptians. At some point they even transported messages by pigeon.

16. Military in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greeks had types ships sort of like the Egyptians did for example
there were boats for transportation, transportation of cargo, funerals for
the rich, and merchant and pleasure ships except their warships were better
their huge warships had a metal ram at the front ships had sails, and were
pushed along by the wind. Small trading ships usually stayed close to the
shore, so the sailors did not get lost. Before a voyage, the sailors prayed to
the sea god Poseidon, for a safe journey. Greek warships had oars as well as
sails. The largest warships had three banks of oar. The ship was about 35
m/115 ft long. Some point really late in history they might have cannons
because from 1 of my sources it says “Archimedes was credited for creating
the cannon.” Their ships usually had 2 decks they almost always used oars an
sometimes had a few sails their ships were made from wood and metal from
the ships they could shoot arrows sometimes they set the arrows on fire
then shot them to set the enemy ship on fire they had Fleets or Navies their
ships could also ram into the other enemy ship they had shields, Armor,
Daggers, Spears, Swords, Javelins, Knives, Ballista, Carroballistas, Catapults,
Gastraphetes, Lithoboloses, Oxybeles, Polybolos, Early battering rams and
Bows and Arrows.

17. Conclusion
So remember both ancient
Greece and Ancient Egypt have
impacted today many of their
medicine remedies, building
tactics and tools and inventions
are still in use today except
they’re modified without their
science we would still be in the
18th century and without science
we’d still be cavemen in terms of
development.

18. Transitions/Animations/
Sounds; Andy Valkov
Math; Ryan Key
Science; Andy Valkov
Word searches; Ryan Key
Pictures; Ryan Key &
Andy Valkov
Editors; Ryan Key & Andy
Valkov
Special Thanks to Google
for its pictures and