Page:Smith - Number Stories of Long ago (1919).djvu/100

OF LONG AGO he said, “I can do it if you will let me write them in our common figures.”

If you had been there to watch Filippo, you would have been just as much puzzled as you would be if you saw someone dividing by the aid of counters, for the work looked very different from that used in school to-day.

HOW FILIPPO PROVED HIS WORK He proved that his work was right by dividing 1728 by 12 and finding 144 as the result

Filippo crossed out each figure when he was through with it, and so the work looks very strange to us.

We must not think that Filippo's way was altogether bad. He used fewer figures than we do, and if you should learn his method you might like it just as well as the one you learned in school.

After Filippo had shown that he knew how to divide, his teacher said, “Now show me 75