纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 017莱因德数学纸草书(3)

The pith of the plant is sliced into strips, which are soaked and pressed together to form sheets-very conveniently, the organic fibres of papyrus were meshed together without needing glue, and the sheets are then dried and rubbed smooth with a stone.

将它的茎髓撕成条，然后浸泡、挤压，形成薄纸，接着晾干，再用石块把表面打磨光滑。

The result is a wonderful surface for writing on-papyrus went on being used across the Mediterranean until about a thousand years ago, and indeed gave most European languages their very word for paper.

纸莎草的有机纤维会自然地缠绕在一起，不需要胶水黏合，十分方便。最后我们得到的便是一张极适合书写的光滑纸面。莎草纸在地中海地区广泛使用，直到一千年前才被替代。莎草纸也是欧洲各国语言中“纸”一词的来源。

But it was expensive-a 17-foot roll like the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus would have cost two copper deben, about the same as a small goat. So this is an object for the well-off.

但这种纸极为昂贵。像莱因德纸草书这样的五米长卷价值两个铜德本，相当于一头小山羊的价钱。因此它基本上是富人使用的。

But why would you spend so much money on a book of mathematical puzzles?

为什么人们要花这么多钱去买一卷数学题呢？

The answer is ... not quite. Because to own this scroll would, in fact, have been a very good career move.

我想是因为这卷数学手卷对公务员的职业生涯大有帮助。

If you wanted to play any serious part in the Egyptian state, you had to be numerate.

如果想要在政府里有所作为，必须学好数学。埃及社会极为复杂，

A society as complex as this needed people who could supervise building works, organise payments, manage food supplies, plan troop movements, compute the flood levels of the Nile-and much, much more.

因此需要监督建筑工程、安排付款、管理食物供应、计划军队调动、计算尼罗河洪水水位等人才。

To be a scribe, a member of the civil service of the pharaohs, you had to demonstrate your mathematical competence.

想要成为书记员，法老手下的一名官员，就必须展现你的数学能力。

As one contemporary writer put it:

就像一位同时代的作家所说：

"So that you may open treasuries and granaries, so that you may take delivery from one corn-bearing ship at the entrance to the granary, so that on feast days you may measure out the gods' offerings."

如此方能打开金库与谷仓，方能从装载玉米的船只或谷仓的入口提取货物，方能在举办盛宴的曰子里，计算出给神灵的供品的数量。