Page:Smith - Number Stories of Long ago (1919).djvu/39

NUMBER STORIES him, “If I should write twenty-seven thousand five hundred twenty-nine, I should write a number larger than anyone in the world would ever need to use.” The priest thought this was true, for the world was still young, no one knew about money, and no one thought that large numbers would ever be needed.

Number Stories, p20-illustration.png EGYPTIAN NUMBER The number 27,529 as the priest wrote it for Ahmes. The order and shape of the figures vary greatly in different inscriptions

Ahmes lived nearly four thousand years ago, and although he grew up and became a great man, and wrote the oldest book on mathematics that now exists, he never needed to use large numbers. The world was still too young to know much about arithmetic.

“Really, could n’t people multiply and divide numbers then?” asked the Tease.

“The answer to that question is another story,” said the Story-Teller.

“Then there is another story to-morrow night?” asked Maude. 20