Page:The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, Volume I.pdf/121

69] The fourth with 4 workmen will have

13'$1/undefined$$1/undefined$$1/undefined$ hekat 1$2/3$ro or 13$1/undefined$ hekat

The four with 30 workmen will have 100 hekat " 100 "

Problem 69 introduces the word pefsu, and Problems 69——78 are problems about pefsu. This word is derived from the stem of the verb "to cook." It meant something like "cooking ratio," that is, the number of units of food or drink that could be made from a unit of material in the process of cooking, and it determined the relative value of any food or drink. To preserve the technical sense I will use the word pefsu in my translation. We may note that the lower the pefsu the more valuable the unit of food.

The pefsu problems are very simple examples in arithmetic, made to seem more abstruse by the use of this word pefsu, and, in some of them, by the use of the word "exchange." We shall see that they can be stated in a way that will make explanations almost unnecessary.

Problem 69

3$1/undefined$ hekat of meal is made into 80 ''loaves of aread. Let me know the amount of meal in each loaf and what is the'' pefsu.

Multiply 3$1/undefined$ so as to get 80.

The pefsu is 22$1/undefined$$1/undefined$$1/undefined$.