Page:Smith - Number Stories of Long ago (1919).djvu/41

 THE QUESTION BOX

1. Why did Chang write such strange numbers as he did instead of writing numbers as we do?

2. Why did Lugal not use a zero and thus write a number like seventy with two figures as we do, instead of writing seven times the sign for ten ?

3. What materials did Chang and Lugal use for writing? Why did they not use paper?

4. What materials did the priest use when he explained the numerals to Ahmes?

6. How was papyrus made and what did it look like?

6. From what word does our word “paper” come?

7. When you speak of calling the roll, what does the word “roll” suggest to you?

8. What kind of a book did Ahmes write when he grew up and became a great man?

9. In what way are our numerals better than those of Chang and Lugal and Ahmes?

10. Could you add, subtract, multiply, and divide with the numerals of Chang and Lugal and Ahmes? What difficulties would you meet if you tried to do so?

11. Why do we call the numerals used by Lugal by a name meaning wedge-shaped?

12. Which numerals seem to you the easiest, those of Chang, those of tugal, or those of Ahmes? 22