Measure Like an Egyptian

Just before spring break, before we wrapped up our unit on Ancient Egypt, we looked at the ways that ancient Egyptians measured items and distances. The interesting thing about this is that they measured using their fingers, hands, and arms. No rulers needed!

The shortest Egyptian unit of measurement was a “digit.” One digit is the width of your pointer finger (not the length). A little longer than that was a “palm.” One palm is the width of your four fingers, not including your thumb. A little longer than that was a “span.” One span is the length from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your pinkie when your palm is open and your fingers are spread out as wide as they can reach. The longest Egyptian unit of measurement was a “cubit.” The cubit is the length from the tip of your middle finger (when your palm is open) to your elbow. This was also the standard unit of length that the Egyptians used for their construction projects, including building the pyramids, for surveying land, and for plotting out fields. It is thought that the cubit was often based on the length of the pharaoh’s arm. In the Egyptian measurement system four digits equaled one palm and 6 palms equaled one cubit, so one cubit also equaled twenty four digits. This is interesting because twenty four is a commonly used number when dividing something into equal parts. This is because it’s a highly divisible number; like 48, 90, 180, or 360. This is also why we see these numbers used every day in many ways, especially in math.

After learning about the Egyptian measurement system, our fifth graders put their knowledge to the test. They each measured ten things in the classroom using all four measurement distances. Some of them even measured the height of their friends! But they were able to see how challenging this could be, and how we shouldn’t take rulers for granted. They also realized that not all of these measurements were perfect, and that one cubit for one student might not be the same length as one cubit for another student. This was a fun way for them to put their learning into action and measure their success! :)