Earliest Known Math Test Dates Back to 2300 B.C.
When your kids complain about doing their math homework, let them know that it was always thus, and always shall be. Why, even ancient Sumerian kids had to do math! Here's one math problem that was found inscribed on a clay tablet at Šuruppak, an archaeological dig site in modern-day Iraq:
Link -via Boing Boing | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Nic McPhee used under Creative Commons license
A loose translation of the problem is: A granary. Each man receives 7 sila of grain. How many men? That is, the tablets concern a highly artificial problem and certainly present a mathematical exercise and not an archival document. The tablets give the statement of the problem and its answer (164571 men - expressed in the sexagesimal system S since we are counting men - with 3 sila left over).
Link -via Boing Boing | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Nic McPhee used under Creative Commons license
We hope you like this article!
Please help us grow by sharing:
Get Updates In Your Inbox
Free weekly emails, plus get access
to subscriber-only prizes.
We won't share your email. You can cancel at any time.