The ancient Egyptian numeric system did not operate on a “base” system such as we use today; it is true that the system used units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands and so on, but each of these numeric values was represented by completely different numerals.

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So in our own system the number 538 is not the same as 835, but in the Egyptian system it could be identical – because it was written with the signs for 5×100, 3×10 and 8×1 and it would mean the same if written in reverse (8 units, 3 tens and 5 hundreds).

This explains why no zero was required – simply leaving out one kind of numeric sign meant the absence of that particular value.

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