Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
The Rhind Papyrus so named after its discoverer in 1858, Alexander Henry Rhind, a Scottish antiquarian. It is one of the oldest mathematical texts, dating to somewhere around 17th century BC. Written by the scribe Ahmes or Ah'mose in hieratic script, the Egyptian manuscript is currently in the permanent collection of the British Museum, apart from a few small fragments held by Brooklyn Museum in New York. The scroll, 33 cm tall and over 5 meters long, was first translated in the late 19th century.
Besides describing how to obtain an approximation of π only missing the mark by under one per cent, it also describes one of the earliest attempts at squaring the circle and in the process provides persuasive evidence against the theory that the Egyptians deliberately built their pyramids to enshrine the value of π in the proportions. Even though it would be a strong overstatement to suggest that the papyrus represents even rudimentary attempts at analytical geometry, Ahmes did make use of a kind of an analogue of the cotangent.