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When I got my math teaching credential, there were bunches of interesting historical things we learned along the way including Egyptian Fractions https://en.wik
by dhosek 6y ago
When I got my math teaching credential, there were bunches of interesting historical things we learned along the way including Egyptian Fractions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_fraction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_fraction
Never actually used any of it so most of it has evaporated from my memory along with calculating square roots by hand, but it's nice to know at least enough to be able to look up the information if I want it.
- shagie 6y agoEgyptian fractions have an interesting property that may have been useful back then. Consider the problem "How do you divide five things for eight people?" Simple - cut everything into 1/8 and give each person five. But Egyptian fractions give an even easier way. 5/8ths is 1/2 + 1/8. Divide four wholes into halves - give each person a one half. Take the unit and divide it into eights and give each person one. The answer to this problem is the way you write the number itself. This makes division of the items easier and simpler.
- DNied 6y agoWell, thanks for repeating what Wikipedia says, down to the same example.
- jrootabega 6y agoThat's how I cut up bell peppers into the right sizes. They're either 4 loved or 3, so cutting them into 3 or 4 equal sized piles is a challenge