June5] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1894.
Thescribehas studied brevitybeforeclearness.
«-=day," excess" or "difference " is written fl *C. Rl ^
in a Kahun papyrus (Pap.LV, 4 on PI. VIII of the forthcoming
publication).
Thegreaterpartof this pageis blank, but it does not coincide
withany important divisionof subjects.
PartIV. —Problems of the Form* + = a.
n
PI. XI, XII, XIII,Commentar,p. 60.
In Nos. 24 to 27 and 31 to 34, the unknown quantity is called
, " , which means "heap," "quantity": I do not feel
certainwhetherthis aha has a special significationin mathematicsor is
merelya term of ordinary life introduced (like" loaves" in Part II),
in order to present the problem in a concrete form. Thereseemsto
be nothing for me to note hereexceptthat * *^ means"added
to it." In No. 28 the problem is ratherdifferentfromthe rest in this
section,v. Eisenlohr's commentary. No. 29 is evidently writtenas
the working out(after " *" y (I w I of 28, but it must really
belongto another problem.
No. 30, ar zet nek an (?) 'kheperen ra-metem ra-.. ra-met en mat'
setem-ef. " If the scribe saysto thee ' 10 becomes -ft-, T'„ of what? '
let him hear (i.e.,answerhim) as follows." Theproblem is thus
correctly stated^2 - x + — = x10.
3 3 ' 10
Setem-efoccursagainin No. 37 with the same meaning.
In 35 to 38, the a of the problems is ••*—•', a heqat. No. 35
(Commentar,p. 79) begins, "I enter 3 times intoa heqat, my third
addedto me, I return filled,whois it that saysthis? " It is a quaint
formfor a mathematical question,butis repeated eachtime. As
the problem is really " 3^ x = heqat, what is x? " it is the heqat
measure,not the .^-measure that is filled, and '
usuallya passive form, is here perhapsactive, "I have filled (the
heqat)."
^*\ I ^C\ occurs in many of the problems with the sense of
" (that) whichsaysthis."
234