Two letters from Otto Neugebauer to Thomas Eric Peet on ancient Egyptian mathematics

摘要

We describe two letters of 1926 from the historian of mathematics Otto Neugebauer to the Egyptologist Thomas Eric Peet (Grif-fith Institute Archive, Oxford: Peet MSS 4.9). The letters concern Neugebauer's study of certain parts of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, as found in the doctoral dissertation that he had completed in Gottingen that year, for which Peet's 1923 edition of the papyrus was a major source. In the letters, we see the young Neugebauer establishing himself within the wider Egyptological community. The letters open up a discussion of Peet's own work on ancient Egyptian mathematics. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.