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The problem is that we have only a very few surviving Egyptian mathematical documents-many others must have perished.
因為保存至今的埃及數學文獻數量極少：其余大部分都已腐爛。
So, although we have to assume that there was a flourishing higher mathematics, we just don't have the evidence for it. Clive Rix again:
雖然能推測當時曾存在蓬勃發展的高等數學，卻無法獲得佐證。萊斯特大學的克萊夫里克斯教授強調了萊因德紙草書的重要性：
"If we didn't have the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, we'd actually know very little indeed about how the Egyptians did mathematics.
如果沒有萊因德紙草書，我們很難確切了解他們的數學水平到底如何。
The algebra is entirely what we would call linear algebra, straight line equations.
里面的代數就是如今我們說的線性代數與直線方程。
There are some what now we would call arithmetical progressions, which are a little bit more sophisticated.
還有一些我們如今稱為等差級數的內容，稍為復雜。
The geometry's a very basic kind as well.
而幾何學也非常基礎。
Ahmose tells us how to calculate the area of a circle, and how to calculate the area of a triangle.
雅赫摩斯告訴我們如何計算圓和三角的面積。
There is nothing in this papyrus that would trouble your average GCSE student, and most of the stuff is rather less advanced than that."
這里面的題目一般的中學畢業生都會解答，有的甚至難度還更低。
But this is, of course, what you'd expect, because the person using the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is not training to be a mathematician.
當然，這一點無可厚非，因為紙草書的用途并非培養數學家。
He just needs to know enough to handle tricky practical problems-like how to divide up rations among workmen.
使用它的 人只需了解如何處理現實中的一些麻煩問題，如怎樣給工人分配供給的物品。
If, for instance, you have ten gallons of animal fat to get you through the year, how much can you consume every day?
再舉一例，如果你有十加侖的動物油脂，供你使用一年，每天能用多少？
Dividing 10 by 365 was as tricky then as it is now, but it was essential if you were going to keep a workforce properly supplied and energised.
用十除以三百六十五，不管在當時還是現在，都不是簡單的運算。但如果你有一群需要你分配食物以保證精力的工人，就非得算出答案不可了。
As Eleanor Robson, a specialist in ancient mathematics from Cambridge University explains:
劍橋大學古代數學專家埃莉諾羅伯森解釋道：
"Everyone who's writing mathematics is doing it because they're learning how to be a literate, numerate manager, a bureaucrat, a scribe-and they're both learning the technical skills and how to manage numbers and weights and measures, in order to help palaces and temples manage their large economies.
每一個做這些數學題的人，都想成為一個能寫會算的管理者、政府官員或書記員。他們需要學習技術，也要學習掌握數字、重量與尺寸，以幫助宮廷和廟宇管理他們龐大的經濟。
