Think about it, ancient Egypt was the very first civilization to practice with and use Scientific arts thousands and thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians were really smart in medicine and applied mathematics. The kids in Ancient Egypt weren't taught any other subjects very strongly except their math. Imagine if you got to draw to do a math sheet. For Example:

1 Is shown by a single stroke = 1

10 is shown by a drawing of a hobble for cattle = 

100 is represented by a coil of rope = 

1,000 is a drawing of a lotus plant = 

10,000 is represented by a finger = 

100,000 is represented by a tadpole or frog = 
 
 

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians did not have numbers like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

They also did not like to put their numbers in a straight line so they did them like this.

One of our 6's would be like this to the ancient Egyptians: 111 111