On the Egyptian method of decomposing 2/n into unit fractions

AbstractA fraction whose numerator is one is called a unit fraction. Unit fractions have been the source of one of the most intriguing mysteries about the mathematics of antiquity. Except for 2/3, the ancient Egyptians expressed all fractions as sums of unit fractions. In particular, The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP) contains the decomposition of 2/n as the sum of unit fractions for odd n ranging from 5 to 101. The way 2/n was decomposed has been widely debated and no general method that works for all n has ever been discovered. In this paper we provide an elementary procedure that reproduces the decompositions as found in the RMP