Early

Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World

This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in the world by JSTOR. Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial purposes. Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early- journal-content. JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL

OF

SEMITIC LANGUAGES

AND LITERATURES

VOLUME XXXVI

JULY

1920

NUMBER 4

A MATHEMATICAL CUNEIFORM TABLET

BY H. F. LUTZ University of Pennsylvania

CBS 8536, according to the Museum catalogue, was purchased from dealers, who bought the tablet from Arabs. The tablet was possibly unlawfully acquired by them at Nippur or at Abu Hatab. It is splendidly preserved and the writing is deeply cut and easily legible. The reddish-brown tablet measures 130 mm. (width) by 156 mm. (length). Column 1 contains the division of 60,1 which it carries through, with the exception of 7 up to 10. It then proceeds up to 81, omitting a great number of intermittent divisors. Columns 2 to 12 contain tables of multiplication. The scheme is in every instance the same. It multiplies a number up to 20, followed thence by 30, 40, and 50. Then follows the multiplication of the number with its own self. With the exception of column 3, the succeeding line contains the square of the number of the preceding line. The
The I Col. 1, 1. 1, is not quite clear to me. It is a division, the result of which is 40. sign, which I read gal with a question mark looks more like bi. The perpendicular stroke in the sign is not as clearly shown on the tablet as it is on my copy. It must, perhaps, be suppressed.

249

250

THE

AMERICAN

JOURNAL

OF SEMITIC

LANGUAGES

square is expressed by the sign, which is to be read according to other mathematical texts, which write the word much better than does this text, ib-di. Thus column 4, 2025=452; column 6, 1600= 402; column 7, 1296= 362, etc. In column 2 the scribe has, by mistake, omitted the number 50, read 502. The two last lines contain in each column the division of 3600 by the first number of the column, and that of its result, arriving thus in each instance at the number first given. The importance of the tablet lies in its use of fractional numbers. Column 5 is most remarkable in that respect. It exhibits a very high state of arithmetical knowledge among the Babylonians, and it is particularly remarkable when we consider the age of the tablet. According to the general style and the writing of the tablet, it cannot be placed later than the Cassite period, but it seems more probable that it goes back even to the First Dynasty period, ca. 2000 B.C. To those who are interested in the way the ancient Babylonians treated the fractions, but who are not acquainted with the fractional system of that people, a few remarks regarding the same seem to be necessary. The fractions are always expressed in terms of sixtieth, or rather three hundred-sixtieth, which were reduced to the simplest fractions, whenever the numerator could be expressed either by the number 1, or else by a number that was one short of the number of the 1 = denominator. That is, -2= (Vu?u or 1ussu), _= 0 1 80 _-10
,
2 =7-2 =0-1j -- 14nu etc. In order to 1, (rubcu), 7o to were make use of a fraction 1+ =W+3 express 9 they compelled +- 0- 6 0 Since the Babylonians could not express a fraction in which the numerator was higher than one and two numbers lower than the whole (i.e., -, 4, , _) they operated in a manner shown in the following example, which is taken from the text (see col. 1, last Q line: -0). In order to express the equivalent of our 2 60+81they were compelled to make use of the fraction:

(pdrab), (,us,,an)

40 +6+60 4 4426 60

442 60 ?8 --

4-

4 4 A+A 60

That is,
6(0

4 0 0 -44
5A0 -

444 +A

A MATHEMATICAL CUNEIFORM TABLET

251 the

In column 5 we have a multiplication of 44+ result of which is given correctly as:

31+ 60

X44-x+,

1975 That is, 44 -9 X4d

/S..

o60 4
... 9

- 40

0 - 1 6O o0 197525 197--9T
Column 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 40 50 48 a-na 48 igi 48 igi 75 48 96 144 192 240 288 336 384 432 480 528 576 624 672 720 768 816 864 912 960 1440 1920 2400 2304 75 48 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1500 2000 2500 72 50

Column 1 ... gal(?)-bi 40-Am 9u a-na gal-bi 30-Am* igi 3 3 igi igi4 igi5 t igi igi 9639 igi 10 igi 12 igi 15 igi16 igi 18 igi 20 igi igi 24 igi 25 igi 27t igi igi igi igi igi igi igi igi igi igi igi 3511 36 40 45 48 50 54 60 64 72 80 10 1j 1j 11
14

Column 2 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 40 50 a-na? 50 2500 =502 igi 50 igi 72

20 20 155 12 7 6 5 4 314 3

21
21 2 + 523 1-60

1j 1 S

g (1)
60

i
60

igi 81

Su= * 60+1= 30; this is the meaning; the reading of gal is, however, uncertain. ulS'u, see K. 4378, (D. 88) 15 and Br. 10075. t Number 7 omitted in tablet. The number demanded by the result $ Tablet reads 28, which must be a mistake. is 27. 1 1 131

II35 is a mistake. It should be 32. ? The text has throughout an interesting variant of the more common a-ra.

252

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES

4 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360 405 450 495 540 585 630 675 720 765 810 855 900 1350 1800 2250 Column 5 44A+j 1 44A+j 2 881 3 133A 4 177j+jt 5 2224+j 6. 2661 7 3611 8 400 10 444A+-a 11 4881 12 5331 13 577 +jt 14 6224+4 15 6661 16 711 ? 17 755 18 800 19 844A+} 20 8881 30 1333A 40 1777j+a 50 22224+4 4411+ a-na 44A+4 6+18 31+ 60 60 197518+ Column 6 1 40 2 80 3 120 4 160 5 200 6 240 7 280 8 320 9 360 10 400 11 440 12 480 13 520 14 560 600 15 16 640 680 17 720 18 760 19 20 800 30 1200 1600 40 50 2000 40 a-na 40 1600 402 1600 40 90 igi 40 90 igi

Column 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 40 50 45 a-na 45 452 2025 45 igi 80 igi

80 45*

60

(44J+J)2 igi 441+a igi 81 * Tablet 46. t Mistake in text, 40 should be in place of 50 and vice versa. $ Text reads wrongly, 5673+-. ? Text reads wrongly, 710g. 81 441+-

Column 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 36 72 108 144 180 216 252 288 324 360 396 432 468 504* * Text omits 4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Column 8 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Column 9 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350

A
Column 7 15 540 16 576 17 612 18 648 19 684 20 720 30 1080 40 1440 1800 50 36 a-na 36 1296 1296 362 36 100 igi 100 36 igi

MATHEMATICAL

CUNEIFORM

TABLET Column 9 15 375 16 400 17 425 18 450 19 475 20 500 30 7501 40 1000 50 12501 25 a-na 25 625 35? 252 25 144 igi 144 25 igi

253

Column 8 15 450 16 480 17 510 18 540 19 570 20 600 30 900 40 1200 1500 50 30 a-na 30 900 900 302 120 30 igi 120 30 igi

t Text

wrongly 1110.

T$ ext wrongly 355. I The scribe wrote by mistake 35, and after seeing his mistake, placed the correct
number 25 on the next line.

Column 10 24 1 48 2 72 3 4 96 120 5 144 6 168 7 192 8 216 9 10 240 11 264 288 12 312 13 14 336* 360 15 16 384 17 408 18 432 19 456 20 480 30 720 960 40 50 1200 24 a-na 24 576 576 242 24 150 igi 24 150 igi

Column 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 221 45 671 90 1121 135 1571 180 2021t 225 2471 270 2921 315 3371 360 3821 405 4271 450 675 900 1125

"12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 30 40 50 221 a-na 221 5061 5061 2212 160 igi 221 221 igi 160

Column 12 1 20 2 40 3 60 4 80 5 100 6 120 140 7 160 8 9 180 200 10 220 11 240 12 260 13 280 14 300 15 320 16 340 17 360 18 380 19 400 20 600 30 '800 40 1000 50 20 a-na 20 566j? 386j?
202

igi igi

20 180

180 20

* 6, i.e., 360 mistake of scribe for 5=--300. ? Notice the interesting variant of the writing of ?. ? The numbers can also be read 5606 and 3801. We should expect 400 in each case. understand.

Their signification

I fail to

254

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES

CoL. OBVERSE COL2 Co

,M.

4.L

im .

- - -

A
Co.. 4

MATHEMATICAL CUNEIFORM TABLET

OBVERSE COL. CoC COt. C ... .

255

-<K

P--

256

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES

REVERSE
Cot..

Ca. 8

Col. 7

_I

I_

ki

....

A
CoL. 12

MATHEMATICAL CUNEIFORM TABLET

REVERSE
Cot. 11 Cot. 10

257

4I.
-y
<

.t

-,,T