Some Notes On the Concept of Seqed and Sloping Span Length in Ancient Egypt

Abstract

Seqed or the so-called Seked is an ancient Egyptian expression indicating the concept of the inclination, slope, slant or tendency in a particular direction that diverges or causes to diverge from the vertical or horizontal position, it also indicates the angle at which a straight line or level is inclined to another. In ancient Egypt, it points out the inclination of the triangular faces of a right pyramid. The slope length is calculated through the Pythagorean Theorem, which is completed by multiplying the square root of a plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles (the square) and by the sum of the squared width and the squared height. The Pythagorean theorem is calculated the sloping span length, where the slope length is studied using the vertical distance is the rise and the horizontal distance is the run, which is rise2 + run2 = slope length2. Mathematics is the abstract science of an arithmetical value, expressed by a word, symbol, or figure, representing a particular quantity and used in counting and making calculations and for showing order in a series or for identification (Number), the amount or number of a material or immaterial thing not usually estimated by spatial measurement (Quantity), and the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move, or the position of two or more items at a distance from one another (Space). Mathematics can be studied in its own right as pure mathematics, or as it is applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering or the so-called applied mathematics. The ancient Egyptian system based on the length measure called the royal cubit, which is subdivided into seven palms, where every palm is also sub-divided into four digits or numbers. Therefore, the inclination of measured slopes is expressed as the number of horizontal palms and digits relative to the rise of every royal cubit.