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hieratic numeral
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Two vertical tablets display ancient symbols for the numbers one and ten from Egyptian hieroglyphic, Egyptian hieratic, Sumerian, and Cretan scripts, with each symbol shown in red next to its culture and approximate date. A chart displays Egyptian hieratic numerals for units, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, with each value represented by a unique red symbol in handwritten script.
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hieratic numeral

mathematics
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Two vertical tablets display ancient symbols for the numbers one and ten from Egyptian hieroglyphic, Egyptian hieratic, Sumerian, and Cretan scripts, with each symbol shown in red next to its culture and approximate date.
Ancient symbols for 1 and 10 Examples of ancient symbols for the numbers 1 and 10.

Hieratic numerals were a cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing, developed for faster and more convenient writing on papyrus compared to formal hieroglyphs. This script was primarily used by scribes for administrative, literary, and religious texts.123

The hieratic numeral system was a decimal system, using distinct symbols for powers of 10 (1, 10, 100, 1,000, etc.). Numbers were formed by repeating these symbols as needed. For example, the number 24 was represented by combining the symbol for 20 and the symbol for 4.3

While hieroglyphic numerals were used for inscriptions, hieratic provided a more abbreviated and practical notation for everyday use. Addition and subtraction involved counting symbols, while multiplication used a method of successive doubling. Division was performed in reverse, and fractions were expressed as sums of unit fractions.132

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6 Britannica Sources
  1. hieroglyphic writing - Hieratic script
  2. mathematics - The numeral system and arithmetic operations
  3. numerals and numeral systems - Roman numerals
  4. numerals and numeral systems - Greek numerals
  5. numerals and numeral systems - Ciphered numeral systems
  6. hieratic

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