Egyptian Fractions R Knott

11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
Egyptian Fractions
The ancient Egyptians only used fractions of the form 1/n so any other fraction
had to be represented as a sum of such unit fractions and, furthermore, all the
unit fractions were different!
Why? Is this a better system than our present day one? In fact, it is for some
tasks.
This page explores some of the history and gives you a summary of computer
searches for such representations. There's lots of investigations to do in this
area of maths suitable for 8-10 year olds as well as older students and it is
also designed as a resource for teachers and educators.
Contents of this page

The
icon means there is a Things to do investigation at the end of the
section.
indicates an on-line interactive calculator is provided for the section.
An Introduction to Egyptian Mathematics
Henry Rhind and his Papyrus scroll
Egyptian Fractions
Why use Egyptian fractions today?
A practical use of Egyptian Fractions
Comparing Egyptian fractions
A Calculator to convert a Fraction to an Egyptian Fraction
Different representations for the same fraction
Each fraction has an infinite number of Egyptian fraction forms
Every ordinary fraction has an Egyptian Fraction form
Fibonacci's Method a.k.a. the Greedy Algorithm
A Proof optional
Shortest Egyptian Fractions
The greedy method and the shortest Egyptian fraction
A Calculator for Shortest Egyptian Fractions
The number of Shortest Length Egyptian Fractions
Shortest Egyptian Fractions lengths for fraction T/B
Are there fractions whose shortest EF length is 3 (4, 5, ..) ?
Finding patterns for shortest Egyptian Fractions
How many Egyptian Fractions of shortest length are there for T/B?
Fixed Length Egyptian Fractions
Egyptian fractions for 4/n and the Erds-Straus Conjecture
5/n = 1/x + 1/y + 1/z?
Smallest Denominators
The 2/n Table of the Rhind Papyrus
Links and References
http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fractions/egyptian.html
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An Introduction to Egyptian
Mathematics
Some of the oldest writing in the world is on a form of paper made from
papyrus reeds that grew all along the Nile river in Egypt. [The image is a link
to David Joyce's site on the History of Maths at Clarke
University.] The reeds were squashed and pressed into
long sheets like a roll of wall-paper and left to dry in
the sun. When dry, these scrolls could be rolled up and
easily carried or stored.
Some of the papyrus scrolls date back to about 2000
BC, around the time of the construction of the larger
Egyptian pyramids. Because there are deserts on
either side of the Nile, papyrus scrolls have been well
preserved in the dry conditions.
So what was on them do you think? How to preserve a
body as a mummy? Maybe it was how to construct the
extensive system of canals used for irrigation across
Egypt or on storage of grain in their great storage
granaries? Perhaps they tell how to build boats out of
papyrus reeds which float very well because pictures of
these boats have been found in many Egyptian tombs?
The surprising answer is that the oldest ones are
about mathematics!
Henry Rhind and his Papyrus scroll

One of the papyrus scrolls, discovered in a tomb in Thebes, was bought by a
25 year old Scotsman, Henry Rhind at a market in Luxor, Egypt, in 1858. After
his death at the age of 30, the scroll found its way to the British Museum in
London in 1864 and remained there ever since, being referred to as the Rhind
Mathematical Papyrus (or RMP for short).
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So what did it say?

The hieroglyphs (picture-writing) on the papyrus were only deciphered in 1842
(and the Babylonian clay-tablet cuneiform writing was deciphered later that
century).
It starts off by saying that the scribe "Ahmes" is writing it about 1600 BC but
that he had copied it from "ancient writings" so it probably goes back to at
least 2000BC and probably further. The picture is also a link so click on it to go
to the St Andrews MacTutor biography of Ahmes.
Since early civilisations would need to predict the start of spring accurately in
order to sow seeds, then a large part of such mathematical writing has
applications in astronomy. Also, calculations were needed for surveying
(geometry) and for building and for accounting. However, quite a lot of the
problems in the RMP are arithmetic puzzles - problems posed just for the fun
of solving them!
On this page we will look at how the Egyptians of 4000 years ago worked with
fractions.
Egyptian Fractions
The Egyptians of 3000 BC had an interesting way to represent fractions.
Although they had a notation for 1/2 and 1/3 and 1/4 and so on (these are called
reciprocals or unit fractions since they are 1/n for some number n), their
notation did not allow them to write 2/5 or 3/4 or 4/7 as we would today.
Instead, they were able to write any fraction as a sum of unit fractions where
all the unit fractions were different.
For example,
3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/4
/7 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/42
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A fraction written as a sum of distinct unit fractions is called an Egyptian

Fraction.
Why use Egyptian fractions today?

For two very good reasons:
The first reason is a practical one.
Suppose you have 5 sacks of grain to share between 8 people, so each
would receive 5/8 of a sack of grain in terms of present-day fractions. How
are you going to do it simply, without using a calculator? You could try
pouring the 5 sacks of grain into 8 heaps and, by carefully comparing
them, perhaps by weighing them against each other, balance them so
they are all the same! But is there a better way? We will see that using
unit fractions makes this easier.
The second reason is that it is much easier to compare fractions using
Egyptian fractions than it is by using our present-day notation for
fractions! For instance:
Which is bigger: 5/8 or 4/7?
but remember - you are not allowed to use your calculator to answer this!
Again unit fractions can make this much simpler.
On this page we see how both of these work in Egyptian fractions.
A practical use of Egyptian Fractions

So suppose Fatima has 5 loaves of bread to share among the 8 workers who
have helped dig her fields this week and clear the irrigation channels. Pause
for a minute and decide how YOU would solve this problem before reading
on.....
First Fatima sees that they all get at least half a loaf, so she gives all 8 of
them half a loaf each, with one whole loaf left.
Now it is easy to divide one loaf into 8, so they get an extra eighth of a loaf
each and all the loaves are divided equally between the 5 workers. On the
picture here they each receive one red part (1/2 a loaf) and one green part (1/8
of a loaf):
and 5/8 = 1/2 + 1/8
Things to do
1. Suppose Fatima had 3 loaves to share between 4 people. How would she do it?
2. ...and what if it was 2 loaves amongst 5 people?
3. ...or 4 loaves between 5 people?
4. What about 13 loaves to share among 12 people? We could give them one loaf each
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th
and divide the 13 into 13 parts for the final portion to give to everyone.
Try representing
13
/12 as /2 + /3 + /* . What does this mean - that is, how would you
divide the loaves using this representation?

Was this easier?
Comparing Egyptian fractions

Which is larger: 3/4 or 4/5?
We could use decimals so that 3/4 =0.75 =75/100 whereas 4/5 =0.8 = 0.80 =
80
/100 so we can see that 80 (hundredths) is bigger than 75 and we can now
see that 4/5 is bigger than 3/4.
Could you do this without converting to decimals?

We could try using ordinary fractions as follows:
What common fraction could we convert both 3/4 and 4/5 into? 20ths would do:
3
/4 = 15/20 whereas
4
/5 = 16/20
so again we can easily see that 4/5 is larger than 3/4.
Using Egyptian fractions we write each as a sum of unit fractions:

3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/4
4
/5 = 1/2 + 3/10 and, expanding 3/10 as 1/4 + 1/20 we have
4
/5 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/20
We can now see that 4/5 is the larger - by exactly 1/20.
Things to do
4
1. Which is larger: /7 or /8?

3
2. Which is larger: /11 or /7?
A Calculator to convert a Fraction to an Egyptian

Fraction
An Egyptian Fraction for T/B is a sum of unit fractions, all different, whose sum
is T/B. Enter your fraction in the boxes below and the click on the Convert to
an Egyptian fraction button and an equivalent Egyptian fraction will be
printed in the RESULTS window.
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Further down this page is another calculator which will find all the shortest
Egyptian Fractions but this calculator is quicker if you just want one. The
method used in this calculator is the Greedy Algorithm which we will examine
in more detail below but the disadvantage of this method is that sometimes it
will fail if a denominator gets too large.
CALCULATO R
Convert to an Egyptian fraction
R E S U L T S Clear
Different representations for the

same fraction
We have already seen that 3/4 = 1/2 + 1/4
Can you write 3/4 as 1/2 + 1/5 + 1/* ?
What about 3/4 as 1/2 + 1/6 + 1/* ?
How many more can you find?
Here are some results that mathematicians have proved:
Every fraction T/B can be written as a sum of unit fractions...
.. and each can be written in an infinite number of such ways!
Now let's examine each of these in turn and I'll try to convince you that each
is true for all fractions T/B less than one (so that T, the number on top, is
smaller than B, the bottom number).
You can skip over these two sub-sections if you like.
Each fraction has an infinite number of Egyptian

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Egyptian Fractions
fraction forms
To see why the second fact is true, consider this:
1 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/6 (*)
So if
3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/4
Let's use (*) to expand the final fraction 1/4:
So let's divide equation (*) by 4:
1
/4 = 1/8 + 1/12 + 1/24
which we can then feed back into our Egyptian fraction for 3/4:
3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/4
3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/8 + 1/12 + 1/24
But now we can do the same thing for the final fraction here, dividing equation
(*) by 24 this time. Since we are choosing the largest denominator to expand,
it will be replaced by even larger ones so we won't repeat any denominators
that we have used already:
1
/24 = 1/48 + 1/72 + 1/144
and so
3
/4 = 1/2 + 1/8 + 1/12 + 1/48 + 1/72 + 1/144
Now we can repeat the process by again expanding the last term: 1/144 and so
on for ever!
Each time we get a different set of unit fractions which add to 3/4!
This shows conclusively once we have found one way of writing T/B as a sum of
unit fractions, then we can derive as many other representations as we wish!
If T=1 already (so we have 1/B) then using (*) we can always start off the
process by dividing (*) by B to get an initial 3 unit fractions that sum to 1/B.
Every ordinary fraction has an

Egyptian Fraction form
We now show there is always at least one sum of unit fractions whose sum is
any given fraction T/B<1 by actually showing how to find such a sum.
Fibonacci's Method a.k.a. the Greedy Algorithm

This method and a proof are given by Fibonacci in his book Liber Abaci
produced in 1202, the book in which he mentions the rabbit problem involving
the Fibonacci Numbers.
Remember that
T
/B<1 and
if T=1 the problem is solved since T/B is already a unit fraction, so
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we are interested in those fractions where T>1.

The method is to find the biggest unit fraction we can and take it from T/B
and hence its other name - the greedy algorithm.
With what is left, we repeat the process. We will show that this series of unit
fractions always decreases, never repeats a fraction and eventually will stop.
Such processes are now called algorithms and this is an example of a greedy
algorithm since we (greedily) take the largest unit fraction we can and then
repeat on the remainder.
Let's look at an example before we present the proof:
521
521
/1050.
/1050 is less than one-half (since 521 is less than a half of 1050) but it is
bigger than one-third. So the largest unit fraction we can take away from
521
/1050 is 1/3:
521
What is the remainder?
/1050 = 1/3 + R
521
/1050 - 1/3 =
So we repeat the process on 57/350:
This time the largest unit fraction less than
1
/50.
57
/350
57
/350 is 1/7 and the remainder is
How do we know it is 7? Divide the bottom (larger) number, 350, by

the top one, 57, and we get 6.14... . So we need a number larger
than 6 (since we have 6 + 0.14) and the next one above 6 is 7.)
So
521
/1050 = 1/3 + 1/7 + 1/50

The sequence of remainders is important in the proof that we do not have to
keep on doing this for ever for some fractions T/B:
521
/1050, 57/350, 1/50
in particular, although the denominators of the remainders are getting bigger,
the important fact that is true in all cases is that the numerator of the
remainder is getting smaller. If it keeps decreasing then it must eventually
reach 1 and the process stops.
Practice with these examples and then we'll have a look at finding short
Egyptian fractions.
Things to do
5
1. What does the greedy method give for /21?

1
What if you started with /6 (what is the remainder)?

9
2. Can you improve on the greedy method's solution for /20 (that is, use fewer unit
fractions)? [Hint: Express 9 as a sum of two numbers which are factors of 20.]
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3. The numbers in the denominators can get quite large using the greedy method: What
5
does the greedy method give for /91?

5
Can you find a two term Egyptian fraction for /91?

[Hint: Since 91 = 7x13, try unit fractions which are multiples of 7.]
A Proof
This section is optional: click on the button see the proof. Show the proof
The next section explores the shortest Egyptian fractions for any given
fraction.
Shortest Egyptian Fractions

The greedy method and the shortest Egyptian
fraction
However, the Egyptian fraction produced by the greedy method may not be the
shortest such fraction. Here is an example:
by the greedy method, 4/17 reduces to
4
/17 = 1/5 + 1/29 + 1/1233 + 1/3039345

whereas we can also check that
4
/17 = 1/5 + 1/30 + 1/510
Here is the complete list of all the shortest representations of T/B for B up to
11. We use a list notation here to make the unit fractions more readable. For
instance, above we saw that:
4
which we will write as:
/5 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/20

4
/5 = [2,4,20]
/3 = [2,6]
/5 = [3,15]
/7 = [4,28]
/9 = [5,45] = [6,18]
/11 = [6,66]
/4 = [2,4]
/5 = [2,10]
/7 = [3,11,231] = [3,12,84] = [3,14,42] = [3,15,35] = [4,6,84] = [4,7,28]
/8 = [3,24] = [4,8]
/10 = [4,20] = [5,10]
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Egyptian Fractions
/11 = [4,44]
3
4
/5 = [2,4,20] = [2,5,10]
/7 = [2,14]
/9 = [3,9]
/11 = [3,33]
/6 = [2,3]
/7 = [2,5,70] = [2,6,21] = [2,7,14]
/8 = [2,8]
/9 = [2,18]
/11 = [3,9,99] = [3,11,33] = [4,5,220]
/7 = [2,3,42]
/11 = [2,22]
/8 = [2,3,24] = [2,4,8]
/9 = [2,4,36] = [2,6,9]
/10 = [2,5]
/11 = [2,8,88] = [2,11,22]
/9 = [2,3,18]
/11
= [2,5,37,4070] = [2,5,38,1045] = [2,5,40,440] = [2,5,44,220] = [2,5,45,198]

= [2,5,55,110] = [2,5,70,77] = [2,6,17,561] = [2,6,18,198] = [2,6,21,77] =
[2,6,22,66] = [2,7,12,924] = [2,7,14,77] = [2,8,10,440] = [2,8,11,88] =
[3,4,7,924]
/10 = [2,3,15]
/11 = [2,4,15,660] = [2,4,16,176] = [2,4,20,55] = [2,4,22,44] = [2,5,10,55]
10
/11= [2,3,14,231] = [2,3,15,110] = [2,3,22,33]
/11 has an unusually large number of different (shortest) representations!
A Calculator for Shortest Egyptian Fractions

The calculator below will find all the Egyptian fractions of shortest length for
an ordinary fraction.
CALCULATO R
Find
the shortest Egyptian fractions for
R E S U L T S Clear
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Egyptian Fractions
The number of Shortest Length Egyptian

Fractions
Here is a table of the lengths of the shortest Egyptian Fractions for all
fractions T/B (Top over Bottom) where the denominator B takes all values up to
30:
Shortest Egyptian Fractions lengths for fraction T/B

KEY:
means the fraction T/B is not in its lowest form e.g. 9/12 so find its
lowest form P/Q (9/12=3/4) and then look up that fraction
means the fraction T/B is bigger than 1. Try B/T instead!
number
is the minimum number of unit fractions that are needed to sum to

T
/B.
Find T (top or numerator) down the side and B (bottom or denominator) across
the top
\B:
T\
2|
3|
4|
5|
6|
7|
8|
9|
10|
11|
12|
13|
14|
15|
111111111122222222223
3456789012345678901234567890
2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2.22-32-22-32-22-32-22-22-22..3-2-2-2-3-2-3-2-2-2-3-2-3...2322-3232-2322-2332-2222....3---2-3---2-3---2-2---2.....332322-333232-332322-32
......3-4-3-2-4-3-2-2-3-3-3.......34-32-22-42-33-32-23........4-3---3-2-2-3---2-2.........3333332322-32333232
..........4---3-3---2-4---4...........433333332322-3332
............3-4-4---3-3-2-4.............44-4--34--2-22-
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Egyptian Fractions
16|
17|
18|
19|
20|
21|
22|
23|
24|
25|
26|
27|
28|
29|
..............5-3-3-4-3-3-3...............3433343333332
................4---4-3---4.................33343343343
..................4-4---4-4...................45-34--4....................5-4-4-3.....................3443343
......................4---4.......................4434........................4-4.........................45..........................5...........................4
Are there fractions whose shortest EF length is 3 (4, 5, ..) ?

From the table above, we see the "smallest" fraction that needs three terms is
T=4 B=5 i.e. 4/5
In fact there are two ways to write 4/5 as a sum of three unit fractions:
4
/5 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/20 and 4/5 = 1/2 + 1/5 + 1/10
There are many other fractions whose shortest EF has 3 unit fractions. Those
with a denominator 10 or less are:
4
/5 3/7 5/7 6/7 7/8 7/9 8/9 9/10
Is there a fraction that needs 4 unit fractions?

Yes! 8/11 canot be written as a sum of less than 4 unit fractions, for instance
8
/11 = 1/2 + 1/6 + 1/22 + 1/66

and there are 15 other EFs of length 4 for this fraction.
Other fractions with a denominator 20 or less that need at least 4 unit
fractions are:
8
/11 9/11 10/11 12/13 13/14 15/16 8/17 14/17 15/17 9/19 14/19 15/19 17/19 18/19
This leads us naturally to ask:
Is there a fraction that needs 5 unit fractions?
Yes! The smallest numerator and denominator are for the fraction
16
/17
16
/17 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/17 + 1/34 + 1/51

Other fractions with a denominator 40 or less that need 5 unit fractions are:
16
/17 21/23 22/23 27/29 28/29 30/31 32/34 33/34 36/37 37/38 38/39
Continuing:
The smallest fraction needing 6 unit fractions is 77/79
77
/79 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/8 + 1/79 + 1/474 + 1/632

Other fractions with a denominator up to 130 that need 6 unit fractions are:
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Egyptian Fractions
77
/79
101
/107
102
/103
104
/107
106
/107
108
/109
112
/113
115
/118
117
/118
119
/127
123
/127
The smallest fraction needing 7 unit fractions is 732/733

732
/737 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/8 + 1/45 + 1/6597 + 1/25655 + 1/30786

and many other EFs of length 7 for this fraction.
The smallest fraction needing 8 unit fractions is 27538/27539.
Mr. Huang Zhibin (
) of China in April 2014 has verified that this fraction
needs 8 unit fractions and gives this example:
27538
/27539 =
1
1
1
1
1
1
/2+ /3+ /7+ /43+ /1933+ /14893663+1/1927145066572824+1/212829231672162931784
Beyond 8 unit fractions is unknown territory!
A097049 has the numerators and A097048 the denominators of these
"smallest" fractions which need at least 2,3,4,5,... terms in any Egyptian
Fraction.
Finding patterns for shortest Egyptian Fractions

There seem to be lots of patterns to spot in the table above.
The top row, for instance, seems to have the pattern that 2/B can be written as
a sum of just 2 unit fractions (providing that B is odd since otherwise, 2/B
would not be in its "lowest form"). The odd numbers are those of the form
2i+1 as i goes from 1 upwards. Let's list some of these in full:
2
i
1
/(2i+1)
/3 = 1/2 + 1/6
/5 = 1/3 + 1/15
/7 = 1/4 + 1/28
/9 = 1/5 + 1/45
4 2
/9 = 1/6 + 1/18
5
/11 = 1/6 + 1/66
/13 = 1/7 + 1/91
/15 = 1/8 + 1/120
/15 = 1/9 + 1/45

7 2
/15 = 1/10 + 1/30
2
/15 = 1/12 + 1/20
Let's concentrate on the first sum on each line since some of the fractions
above have more than one form as a sum of two unit fractions.
It looks as if
2
/2i+1 = 1/i+1 + 1/?
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Can you spot how we can use (2i+1) and i to find the missing number?
Here is the table again with the (2i+1) and i+1 parts in red and the ? number
is in green :
i 2/2i+1= 1/i+1 + 1/?
1 2/3
= 1/2 + 1/6
2 2/5
= 1/3 + 1/15
3 2/7
= 1/4 + 1/28
4 2/9
= 1/5 + 1/45 = 1/6 + 1/18
5 2/11 = 1/6 + 1/66

6 2/13 = 1/7 + 1/91
7 2/15 = 1/8 + 1/120 = 1/9 + 1/45= 1/10 + 1/30= 1/12 + 1/20
8 2/17 = 1/9 + 1/153
9 2/19 = 1/10 + 1/190
Yes! Just multiply the red numbers i+1 and 2i+1 to get the green ones!
So it looks like we may have the pattern:
2
/2i+1 = 1/i+1 + 1/(i+1)(2i+1)
We can check it by simplifying the fraction on the right and seeing if it reduces
to the one on the left:
1
/i+1 + 1/(i+1)(2i+1) =
(2i+1 + 1)
/(i+1)(2i+1) =
2i+2
/(i+1)(2i+1) =
2(i+1)
/(i+1)(2i+1) = 2/2i+1
So algebra has shown us that the formula is always true.
How many Egyptian Fractions of shortest length

are there for T/B?
Here is a table like the one above, but this time each entry is a count of all
the ways we can write T/B as a sum of the minimum number of unit fractions:
For instance, we have seen that 4/5 can be written with a minimum of 2 unit
fractions, so 2 appears in the first table under T/B=4/5.
But we saw that 4/5 has two ways in which it can be so written, so in the
following table we have entry 2 under T/B=4/5.
2
/15 needs at least 2 unit fractions in its Egyptian form: here are all the
variations:
2
/15 = 1/8 + 1/120
= 1/9 + 1/45
= 1/10 + 1/30
= 1/12 + 1/20
so it has four representations. In the table below, under T/B=2/15 we have the
entry 4:
NUMBER of Shortest Egyptian Fractions:
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\B
T\
2|
3|
4|
5|
6|
7|
8|
9|
10|
11|
12|
13|
14|
15|
16|
17|
18|
19|
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
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. .
. .
2
2
2
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1
8
4
5
1
1
3
1
1
1
3
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
3
1
1
1
6
.
.
.
.
.
.
4
3
7
2
2
2
1
.
.
.
.
.
- 1
2 1
- 4
1 5
- 1
5 3
- 23
1 1
- 3
2 1
- 1
1 1
- 2
5 4
. 39
. .
. .
. .
- 1
- 8
- 1
2 1
- 2
1 5
- 2
- 14
- 1
1 3
- 1
2 1
- 5
- 3
- 1
1 3
. 1
. .
4
2
1
1
5
2
1
Fixed Length Egyptian Fractions

The shortest Egyptian fractions do not always give the smallest numbers.
For example, the smallest number of unit fractions for 8/11 is 4; there are 16 of
them and the one with the smallest numbers (i.e. the one whose largest
denominator is the smallest) is 8/11 = 1/2 + 1/6 + 1/22 + 1/66
However, if we look for a larger collection, of 5 unit fractions, we find smaller
numbers still:
8/11 = 1/2 + 1/11 + 1/12 + 1/33 + 1/44 and
8/11 = 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/11 + 1/33 + 1/44
Here we investigate Egyptian Fractions with more than the smallest number of
reciprocals.
We have already seen that every fraction T/B has an Egyptian Fraction and,
what is more, an infinite number of longer and longer Egyptian fraction forms.
So let's see what we can find about the number of Egyptian fractions for t/b of
a given length L.
CALCULATO R
Options: leave
blank if not needed
all denominators
Count
Egyptian fractions
Show all of length
for
find no more than

1000 solutions
R E S U L T S Clear
15/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
Things to do
1.
1 = /2 + /3 + /6
shows 3 different unit fractions with a sum of 1 whereas
1
1 = /2 + /4 + /10 + /12 + /15

is a set of 5 unit fractions.
a. In how many ways can you make write 1 as a sum of 4 different unit fractions?
b. How many other ways can you find to write 1 as a sum of 5 unit fractions? (There
are more than 10 but less than 100.)
Check your answers at A006585.
2. Suppose we now allowed unit fractions to be repeated in the above question e.g.
1
1 = /2 + /4 + /4 = /3 + /3 + /3
There are a total now of 14 ways to write 1 as a sum of 4 unit fractions which includes all
those solutions you found in the first question. What are they?
3. Is it always possible to find n different unit fractions that sum to 1 no matter what n is?
Can you give a formula for the n unit fractions or a method of constructing them for
certain values of n?
4. Difficult!
Here are the EFs for 1 with the smallest numbers (that is, the largest denominator is
smallest) of various lengths:
Numbers whose reciprocals sum to 1
Length
3
Denominators
2,3,6
16/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
2,4,6,12
2,4,10,12,15
3,4,6,10,12,15
3,4,9,10,12,15,18
4,5,6,9,10,15,18,20
3,5,9,10,12,15,18,20
4,6,8,9,10,12,15,18,24
4,5,8,9,10,15,18,20,24
10
5,6,8,9,10,12,15,18,20,24
11
6,7,8,9,10,12,14,15,18,24,28
5,7,8,9,10,14,15,18,20,24,28
5,6,8,9,10,15,18,20,21,24,28
12
6,7,8,9,10,14,15,18,20,24,28,30
4,8,9,10,12,15,18,20,21,24,28,30
a. Are there any patterns here that you can use to extend this table?
b. The list of the largest numbers in each of these cases is
6,12,15,15,18,20,24,24,28,30,... .
How does it continue? Check your answer with A030659
5. Fibonacci's Greedy algorithm to find Egyptian fractions with a sum of 1 is as follows:
Choose the largest unit fraction we can, write it down and subtract it
Repeat this on the remainder until we find the remainder is itself a unit
fraction not equal to one already written down.
At this point we could stop or else continue splitting the unit fraction into
smaller fractions.
To use this method to find a set of unit fractions that sum to 1:
1
So we would start with /2 as the largest unit fraction less than 1:

1
1 = /2 + ( /2 remaining)
1
so we repeat the process on the remainder: the largest fraction less than /2 is /3:
1
1 = /2 + /3 + ( /6 remaining).
1
We could stop now or else continue with /7 as the largest unit fraction less than /6 ...
1
1 = /2 + /3 + /7 + ...
Find a few more terms, choosing the largest unit fraction at each point rather than
stopping.
The infinite sequence of denominators is called Sylvester's Sequence.
17/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
Check your answers at A000058 in Sloane's Online Encyclopedia of Integer

Sequences.
3
6. Investigate shortest Egyptian fractions for /n:

3
a. Find a fraction of the form /n that is not a sum of two unit fractions.
3
b. Is it always possible to write /n as a sum of three unit fractions ?

Give a formula for the different cases to verify your answer.
4
7. Find a value for n where /n cannot be expressed as a sum of two unit fractions.
Egyptian fractions for 4/n and the Erds-Straus

Conjecture
Although many fractions of the form 4/n can be written as a sum of just two
unit fractions, others, such as 4/5 and 4/13 need three or more.
In 1948, the famous mathematician Paul Erds (1913-1996) together with E.
G. Straus suggested the following:
The Erds-Straus Conjecture:
Every fraction /n can be written as a sum of three unit fractions.
4
It has been verified that 3 unit fractions can found for all values of n up to
1014 but as yet no one has proved it true for all values of n nor has anyone
found a number n for which it is not true.
The Calculator above shows that for any given n there are many ways to
choose the whole numbers, x, y and z for the three unit fraction denominators.
Using the calculator above, can you find patterns for some values of n, x, y
and z?
For instance: among all the result of three

fractions summing to 4/n when n is even, we
have:
12
20
10
30
12
42
How would you

write this pattern
mathematically?
...
Here is a list of all the 3-term Egyptian fractions for 4/n for n from 5 to 15.
4/5=
1/2 + 1/4 + 1/20

1/2 + 1/5 + 1/10
4/6=
1/2 +
1/2 +
1/2 +
1/2 +
1/15
1/3 +
1/7 + 1/42
1/8 + 1/24
1/9 + 1/18
1/10 +
1/4 + 1/12
1/2 + 1/15 +
1/210
4/10=
1/3 +
1/240
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/5 +
1/16 +
1/18 + 1/90
1/20 + 1/60
1/24 + 1/40
1/7 + 1/140
1/8 + 1/40
1/10 + 1/20
1/12 + 1/15
1/6 + 1/30
1/3 + 1/34 +
4/13=
1/4 +
1/468
1/4 +
1/130
1/4 +
1/52
1/5 +
1/130
1/18 +
1/20 +
1/26 +
1/10 +
1/4 + 1/29 +
1/812
1/4 + 1/30 +
1/4 + 1/61
1/3660
1/4 + 1/62
1/1860
1/4 + 1/63
1/1260
1/4 + 1/64
1/960
1/4 + 1/65
1/780
1/4 + 1/66
1/660
+
+
+
+
+
+
18/24
11/2/2014
4/7=
4/8=
4/9=
Egyptian Fractions
1/2 +
1/112
1/2 +
1/63
1/2 +
1/42
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/3 +
1/15
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/3 +
1/90
1/3 +
1/36
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/16 +
1/18 +
4/11=
1/21 +
1/6 + 1/14
1/7 + 1/42
1/8 + 1/24
1/9 + 1/18
1/10 +
1/5 + 1/20
1/6 + 1/12
1/10 +
1/12 +
4/12=
1/6 + 1/36
1/9 + 1/12
1/1122
1/3 + 1/36 +
1/396
1/3 + 1/42 +
1/154
1/3 + 1/44 +
1/132
1/4 + 1/9 + 1/396
1/4 + 1/11 + 1/44
1/4 + 1/12 + 1/33
1/4 +
1/156
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/4 +
1/5 +
1/5 +
1/5 +
1/5 +
1/6 +
1/6 +
1/6 +
1/6 +
4/14=
1/13 +
1/14 + 1/84
1/15 + 1/60
1/16 + 1/48
1/18 + 1/36
1/20 + 1/30
1/21 + 1/28
1/8 + 1/120
1/9 + 1/45
1/10 + 1/30
1/12 + 1/20
1/7 + 1/42
1/8 + 1/24
1/9 + 1/18
1/10 + 1/15
1/420
1/4 +
1/224
1/4 +
1/140
1/4 +
1/126
1/4 +
1/84
1/4 +
1/77
1/5 +
1/420
1/5 +
1/70
1/5 +
1/28
1/6 +
1/126
1/6 +
1/28
1/6 +
1/21
1/7 +
1/32 +
1/35 +
1/36 +
1/42 +
1/44 +
1/12 +
1/14 +
1/20 +
1/9 +
1/12 +
1/14 +
1/8 + 1/56
4/15=
1/4 +
1/510
1/4 +
1/460
1/4 +
1/420
1/4 +
1/360
1/4 +
1/300
1/4 +
1/285
1/4 +
1/260
1/4 +
1/240
1/4 +
1/210
1/4 +
1/204
1/4 +
1/180
1/4 +
1/160
1/4 +
1/150
1/4 +
1/140
1/4 +
1/135
1/4 +
1/132
1/5 +
1/240
1/5 +
1/5 +
1/5 +
1/6 +
1/110
1/6 +
1/6 +
1/6 +
1/7 +
1/8 +
1/9 +
1/68 +
1/69 +
1/70 +
1/72 +
1/75 +
1/76 +
1/78 +
1/80 +
1/84 +
1/85 +
1/90 +
1/96 +
1/100 +
1/105 +
1/108 +
1/110 +
1/16 +
1/18
1/20
1/24
1/11
+ 1/90
+ 1/60
+ 1/40
+
1/12
1/14
1/15
1/10
1/10
1/10
+
+
+
+
+
+
1/60
1/35
1/30
1/42
1/24
1/18
Can you spot any further patterns here?

Use the Calculator above to help with your investigations.
If you do find any more, let me know (see contact details at the foot of this
page) and I will put your results here.
If we can find a set of cases that cover all values of n, then we have a proof of
the Erds-Straus conjecture.
Show more on this Conjecture
Things to do
4
1. The number of solutions to /n as a sum of 3 unit fractions is:

4
The first value is /3:

4
1 solution for /3 = /1+ /4+ /12

1 solution for /4 = /2+ /3+ /6
4
2 ways for /5
19/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
5 ways for /6 = /3
...
The series of counts is (0,0), 1, 1, 2, 5, ...
How does it continue?
Check your answers with A073101 in Neil Sloane's Online Encyclopedia of Integer
Sequences.
If the Erds-Straus Conjecture is true then the only zeroes in the whole infinite series
are for n=1 and 2.
With thanks to Robert David Acker, Jr. for suggesting this topic.
5/n = 1/x + 1/y + 1/z?

Another famous mathematician, Sierpinski suggested in 1956 that the same
applied to all fractions of the form 5/n, that is that each of these also can be
expressed as a sum of 3 unit fractions.
There are:
0 solutions for 5/2
1 solution for 5/3: 5/3=1/1+1/2+1/6
2 for 5/4: 5/4=1/1+1/5+1/20 and 1/1+1/6+1/12;
1 for 5/5; what is it?

The number of solutions this time is the series 0,1,2,1,1,3,5,9,6,3,12,... which
is A075248 in Neil Sloane's Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. If the
conjecture is true, then there are no zeroes in this series apart from the
starting value.
Things to do
1.
5
a. Find the single set of 3 unit fractions with a sum of /6.

5
b. Find the three sets of 3 for /7.

5
c. What formulae can you find for special cases of /n as a sum of 3 unit fractions?
2. From the table of lengths of the shortest Egyptian fractions above, find a fraction that
needs 5 unit fractions for its Egyptian fraction.
3. Can you find a fraction that cannot be written using less than 6 unit fractions for its
Egyptian fraction?
4. Investigate Egyptian fractions which have only odd denominators.
a
Is it possible to find a sum of odd Egyptian fractions for every fraction /b?
20/24
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Egyptian Fractions
The above will give you some ideas for your own experiments and the
References below point to more information and ideas.
Happy calculating!
Smallest Denominators
Apart from the shortest Egyptian fractions (those with the fewest unit
fractions), we can also look for the smallest numbers in the denominators.
As we saw at the start of the Fixed Length Egyptian Fractions section above,
the smallest denominators do not always appear in the shortest Egyptian
fractions.
The shortest for 8/11 is
8/11 = 1/2 + 1/6 + 1/22 + 1/66
and 15 others, but this one has the fewest numbers with just 4 unit
fractions but it includes a denominator of 66;
The EF for 8/11 with smallest numbers has no denominator larger than 44
and there are two such EFs both containing 5 unit fractions (out of the
667 of length 5):
8/11 = 1/2 + 1/11 + 1/12 + 1/33 + 1/44 and
8/11 = 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/11 + 1/33 + 1/44
Here is a list of the EF's for 1 of various lengths with smallest denominators:
Length
Denominators with sum of 1
236
2 4 6 12
2 4 10 12 15
3 4 6 10 12 15
3 4 9 10 12 15 18
3 5 9 10 12 15 18 20
4 5 6 9 10 15 18 20
4 5 8 9 10 15 18 20 24
4 6 8 9 10 12 15 18 24
10
5 6 8 9 10 12 15 18 20 24
11
5 6 8 9 10 15 18 20 21 24 28
5 7 8 9 10 14 15 18 20 24 28
6 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 18 24 28
12
4 8 9 10 12 15 18 20 21 24 28 30
6 7 8 9 10 14 15 18 20 24 28 30
4
4
4
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
7
8
8
9
8
8
7
7
7
8
8
8
9 11 12 18 20 21 22 24 28 30 33
10 11 12 15 20 21 22 24 28 30 33
10 11 12 15 18 20 21 22 28 30 33
9 10 11 12 18 21 22 24 28 30 33
9 10 11 15 18 20 21 22 24 28 33
8 9 11 14 18 20 22 24 28 30 33
8 10 11 14 15 20 22 24 28 30 33
9 10 11 14 15 18 20 22 28 30 33
9 10 11 12 15 18 20 22 24 30 33
9 10 11 12 15 18 21 22 24 28 33
9 10 11 12 14 15 18 22 24 28 33
So of all the EFs for 1 with 3 fractions, the smallest has all denominators no
13
bigger than 6.
Of those EFs for 1 with 4 fractions, the smallest has no denominator bigger
than 12. and for 5 fractions, the smallest has no denominator bigger than 15.
6 8 9 10 11 15 18 20 21 22 24 28 30 33
14
The series of these smallest
maximum
(the minimax solution) in
7 8 9 10 11
14 15 18 20 22 24denominators
28 30 33
15 lengths
6 8 9 11 14 15 is
18 20
21 22 24 28
30 33 35
the EFs for 1 of various
given
by:
8 11 12 14 15 18 20 21 22 24 28 30 33 35 36
6, 12, 15, 15, 18, 20, 24, 24,16
28,6630,
33, 33, 35, 36, 40, 42, ... A030659.
17
10 11 12 14 15 18 20 21 22 24 28 30 33 35 36 40
18
7 10 11 12 14 15 18 20 21 22 24 28 30 33 35 36 40 42
The 2/n table of the Rhind Papyrus

Here is the Table at the start of the Rhind mathematical papyrus. It is a table
21/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
of unit fractions for 2/n for the odd values of n from 3 to 101.
Sometimes the shortest Egyptian fraction is ignored in the table in favour of a
longer decomposition. Only one sum of unit fractions is given when several are
possible. The scribe tends to favour unit fractions with even denominators,
since this makes their use in multiplication and division easier. The Egyptian
multiplication method was based on doubling and adding, in exactly the same
way that a binary computer uses today, so it is easy to double when the unit
fractions are even.
Also, he prefers to use smaller numbers. Their method of writing numerals was
decimal more like the Roman numerals than our decimal place system though.
He seems to reject any form that would need a numeral bigger than 999. All
the shortest forms and alternative shortest forms are given here in an extra
column.
2
1
1
1
1
= + + +
n
a
b
c
d
n
shortest?
5 3
15
7 4
28
9 6
18
5 45
11 6
66
13 8
52
104
7 91
8 120
9 45
12 20
15 10 30
17 12 51
68
9 153
19 12 76
114
10 190
11 231
12 84
15 35
21 14 42
shortest?
49 28 196
25
1225
79 60
237 316 790 40 3160
51 34 102
30 170
27 459
26
1326
81 54
162
53 30 318 795
27
1431
83 60
55 30 330
40 88
33 165
28
1540
42 3486
also
332 415 498
166 249
498
85 51
255
55 187
45 765
43 3655
57 38 114
87 58
174
48 464
45 1305
44 3828
59 36 236 531
89 60
45 4005
356 534 890 184 of
length 3
91 70
130
52 364
49 637
46 4186
93 62
186
51 527
48 1488
47 4371
95 60
380 570
97 56
679 776
49 4753
198
90
63
55
54
51
50
27 18 54
15 135
24 378
30
1770
29 24 58
174 232 15 435
21 105
20 140
18 630
37 24 111 296
19 703
39 26 78
24 104
21 273
20 780
41 24 246 328
21 861
43 42 86
129 301 22 946
45 30 90
36 60
35 63
27 135
25 225
24 360
23
1035
shortest?
308
13 325
35 30 42
77 44
25 15 75
33 22 66
24
1128
21 77
18 198
17 561
23 12 276
16 496
47 30 141 470
33 209
30 570
29
1653
31 20 124 155
61 40 244 488 610
63 42 126
31
1891
56 72
45 105
36 252
35 315
33 693
32
2016
65 39 195
45 117
35 455
33
2145
67 40 335 536
34
2278
69 46 138
39 299
36 828
35
2415
71 40 568 710
73 60 219 292 365
99 66
101 202 303 606
63 99
42 462
39 3003
45 405
42 1134
41 3321
60
57
50
48
228
285
950
4560
110
231
495
594
1683
4950
51 5151
36
2556
37
22/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
2701
60 100
45 225
42 350
40 600
39 975
38
2850
75 50 150
All those with n a multiple of 3 follow the same pattern:

2
/3n = 1/2n + 1/6n
But there are still some mysteries here.

For instance why choose
2
/95 = 1/60 + 1/380 + 1/570
instead of the much simpler

2
/95 = 1/60 + 1/228?
Why stop at 103? There is a sum for 2/103 with two unit fractions but it
contains a four digit number:
2
/103 = 1/52 + 1/5356
and all of the other 65 of length 3 contain a denominator of at least 1236.

The one with this least maximum denominator is: 2/103 = 1/60 + 1/515 + 1/1236
There are only two of length 4 that don't use four digit numbers:
2
/103 = 1/103 + 1/206 + 1/309 + 1/618
/103 = 1/72 + 1/309 + 1/824 + 1/927.
The Calculator above may help with your investigations.

Things to do
2
1. Is there a pattern common to all the /5n forms in the papyrus table?
2
2. Is there a pattern common to all the /7n forms in the papyrus table?
3. Which fractions in the table could be found by the Fibonacci method?
Links and References

David Eppstein of University of California, Irvine has a host of links on all
sorts of information on Egyptian Fractions and a comprehensive guide to
the different algorithms that can be used to write your own Egyptian
23/24
11/2/2014
Egyptian Fractions
Fraction computer programs, although his are described using many

different techniques available in the Mathematica package and there are
references to C and C++ sources too.
Dr Scott William's page on The Rhind 2/n Table has a list of the fractions
2
/n written as Egyptian fractions in the Rhind papyrus that we mentioned
at the start of this page and that is given in full earlier on this page. He
also includes a discussion and analysis of the fractions chosen and
suggestions of the methods the Egyptians might have used. He has some
interesting pages on African mathematics and mathematicians from
ancient times to today.
Eric Weisstein's Mathworld article on Egyptian Fractions has many
references too.
Fibonacci on Egyptian Fractions M. Dunton and R. E. Grimm, Fibonacci
Quarterly vol 4 (1966), pages 339-353. Here Grimm and Dunton give an
English translation and explanation using modern notation of the section
in chapter 7 of Fibonacci's Liber Abaci which gives methods of expressing
a fraction as a sum of unit fractions. Fibonacci deals with several special
cases called distinctions before giving the "greedy" algorithm above as
the seventh and general method. Download this paper in PDF
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus G Robins, C Shute, British Museum Press,
1987, (88 pages, paperback) is highly recommended for its explanations
of the arithmetic methods that may have been used in the 2/n table and
the other tables and problems in the papyrus. It has excellent colour
photographs of the papyrus and many illustrations. Buy it from the
Amazon.co.uk site [use the link above] as it is much cheaper than the
Amazon.com site!
The following two books are recommended if you want to read more about the
extraordinary Hungarian mathematician Paul Erds
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search
for Mathematical Truth by P Hoffmann, Fourth Estate (1999) paperback
My Brain Is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos B Schechter,
Simon & Schuster (2000) paperback
or try this highly acclaimed DVD:
N is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erds (2007) Region 1, USA and Canada
only, for NSTC (non-EU) TVs.
On the History of Egyptian mathematics, I recommend:
Mathematics in the Time of the Pharaohs by Richard J Gillings, Dover,
1972 is an inexpensive and readable account of the mathematics in the
Rhind Papyrus, it contents and methods. Recommended!
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity by Otto Neugebauer, Dover, second
edition 1969, is another great book covering not only Egyptian arithmetic
but also the Babylonian, Sumerian and Greek contributions to both
number notation and arithmetic as well as astronomy. It is about the
history of the mathematics more than the maths itself and is now, rightly,
a classic on this subject.
1996-2014
Dr Ron Knott
last update: 21 April 2014

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Contents of this page

Henry Rhind and his Papyrus scroll

So what did it say?

/7 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/42

A fraction written as a sum of distinct unit fractions is called an Egyptian

Why use Egyptian fractions today?

A practical use of Egyptian Fractions

divide the loaves using this representation?

Comparing Egyptian fractions

Could you do this without converting to decimals?

Using Egyptian fractions we write each as a sum of unit fractions:

1. Which is larger: /7 or /8?

2. Which is larger: /11 or /7?

A Calculator to convert a Fraction to an Egyptian

Different representations for the

Each fraction has an infinite number of Egyptian

Every ordinary fraction has an

Fibonacci's Method a.k.a. the Greedy Algorithm

we are interested in those fractions where T>1.

What is the remainder?

/350 is 1/7 and the remainder is

How do we know it is 7? Divide the bottom (larger) number, 350, by

/1050 = 1/3 + 1/7 + 1/50

1. What does the greedy method give for /21?

What if you started with /6 (what is the remainder)?

does the greedy method give for /91?

Can you find a two term Egyptian fraction for /91?

Shortest Egyptian Fractions

/17 = 1/5 + 1/29 + 1/1233 + 1/3039345

which we will write as:

/5 = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/20

/7 = [3,11,231] = [3,12,84] = [3,14,42] = [3,15,35] = [4,6,84] = [4,7,28]

/10 = [4,20] = [5,10]

/7 = [2,5,70] = [2,6,21] = [2,7,14]

/11 = [3,9,99] = [3,11,33] = [4,5,220]

/11 = [2,8,88] = [2,11,22]

= [2,5,37,4070] = [2,5,38,1045] = [2,5,40,440] = [2,5,44,220] = [2,5,45,198]

/11 = [2,4,15,660] = [2,4,16,176] = [2,4,20,55] = [2,4,22,44] = [2,5,10,55]

/11= [2,3,14,231] = [2,3,15,110] = [2,3,22,33]

/11 has an unusually large number of different (shortest) representations!

A Calculator for Shortest Egyptian Fractions

the shortest Egyptian fractions for

The number of Shortest Length Egyptian

Shortest Egyptian Fractions lengths for fraction T/B

means the fraction T/B is bigger than 1. Try B/T instead!

is the minimum number of unit fractions that are needed to sum to

Are there fractions whose shortest EF length is 3 (4, 5, ..) ?

/5 3/7 5/7 6/7 7/8 7/9 8/9 9/10

Is there a fraction that needs 4 unit fractions?

/11 = 1/2 + 1/6 + 1/22 + 1/66

/17 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/17 + 1/34 + 1/51

/79 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/8 + 1/79 + 1/474 + 1/632

The smallest fraction needing 7 unit fractions is 732/733

/737 = 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/8 + 1/45 + 1/6597 + 1/25655 + 1/30786

Finding patterns for shortest Egyptian Fractions

/11 = 1/6 + 1/66

/13 = 1/7 + 1/91

/15 = 1/8 + 1/120

/15 = 1/9 + 1/45

/15 = 1/12 + 1/20

/2i+1 = 1/i+1 + 1/?

= 1/5 + 1/45 = 1/6 + 1/18

5 2/11 = 1/6 + 1/66