Egyptian Hieroglyphs Converter & Calculator

In hieroglyphs
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How it's built

Convert numbers to Egyptian hieroglyphic numerals and back, see how each number is built from the seven signs, and copy the Unicode hieroglyphs.

Result
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Written in hieroglyphs
How a scribe would do it

Egyptian arithmetic: add, subtract, multiply by doubling and divide the way the Rhind papyrus does, with every step in hieroglyphs.

As Egyptian fractions
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The parts
The Rhind papyrus 2/n table tap to open

Egyptian fraction calculator: write any fraction as a sum of different unit fractions, in hieroglyphs, with the Rhind papyrus 2/n table.

The seven signs
Questions
How did the ancient Egyptians write numbers?

With seven signs, one for each power of ten from 1 to 1,000,000, each repeated up to nine times. So 2,026 is two water lilies, two hobbles and six strokes.

Did they have a zero?

There was no zero digit, because a number is just the sum of its signs. Accountants did use the sign nfr to mark a zero balance.

Which way were numbers written?

Either way, and even top to bottom. The largest values come first and the signs face the start of the line. You can switch direction under Advanced settings.

How did the Egyptians multiply?

By doubling. Double one number again and again, tick the rows that add up to the other number, and add up the ticked results. The Calculator tab shows every step.

What are Egyptian fractions?

Sums of different unit fractions, like 1/4 + 1/28. A mouth sign above a number meant one part of it, and 1/2, 2/3 and 3/4 had signs of their own.

What is the Rhind papyrus?

A maths scroll copied by the scribe Ahmes around 1550 BC, now mostly in the British Museum. It opens with a table that splits 2/n into unit fractions for every odd n from 3 to 101.

Why do copied hieroglyphs show as boxes?

The app you paste into needs a font with Egyptian hieroglyphs, such as Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs. This page has one built in.

Learn the Egyptian number hieroglyphs: the stroke, hobble, coil of rope, water lily, finger, tadpole and the god Heh, with a quick quiz.