Word problems from different cultures/times *All problems are taken from Mathematical Expeditions: Exploring Word Problems

across the Ages by Frank J. Swetz From Ancient Sumerian (4000 BC): A granary of barley. One man received 7 sila [of grain]. What are its men? [I.e., how many men can be given a ration?] (Robson 2007, 75). From Ancient Egypt (1650 BC): How many cattle are in a herd when 2/3 of 1/3 of them makes 70, the number due as tribute to the owner? (Chace 1979, 102). Divide 100 loaves among 10 men including a boatman, a foreman, and a doorkeeper, who receive double portions. What is the share of each? (Chace 1979, 84). From Old Babylon (2000-1600 BC): A beam of length stands against a wall. The upper end has slipped down a distance 1/10. How far did the lower end move? (Van der Waerden 1983, 59). Given a gate, the height rod, 2 cubits, the breadth 2 cubits. What is the diagonal? (Robson 2007, 140).

Ancient China (400 AD): Now there is sighted 9 embankments; each embankment has 9 trees; each tree has 9 branches; each branch holds 9 nests; each nest has 9 birds; each bird has 9 feathers and each feather has 9 colors. Find the quantity of each. (Lam and Ang 1992, 181) A bamboo shoot 10 chi tall has a break near the top. The configuration of the main shoot and its broken portion forms a triangle. The top touches the ground 3 chi from the stem. What is the length of the stem left standing? (Swetz and Kao 1977, 44)

Now there are an unknown number of things. If counted by threes, there is a remainder of two; if counted by fives there is a remainder of three; and if counted by sevens there is a remainder of two. Find the number of things. (Lam and Ang 1992, 104) A hare runs 100 bu ahead of a dog. The dog pursuing at 250 bu is 30 bu short. Tell me in how many bu will the dog catch up with the hare? There is a tree 135 bu from the southern gate of a walled city. The tree can be seen if one walks 15 bu from the northern gate and then 208 bu in the eastward direction. Find the diameter of the walled city. (Li Zhi 1248). Britain (781 AD) Alcuin of York: A ladder has 100 steps. On the first step sits 1 pigeon; on the second 2; on the third 3 and so on up to the hundredth. How many pigeons are there in all? (Hadley and Singmaster 1992, 121) A dog chasing a rabbit, which has a start of 150 feet, jumps 9 feet every time the rabbit jumps 7. In how many leaps does the dog overtake the rabbit? (Hadley and Singmaster 1992, 115). Three friends each with a sister needed to cross a river. Each of them coveted the sister of another. At the river they found a small boat in which only two of them could cross at once. How could they cross the river without any of the women being defiled by the men? (Hadley and Singmaster 1992, 111). Japanese: There is a log of precious wood 18 feet long whose bases are 5 feet and 2 feet in circumference. Into what lengths should this log be cut to trisect its volume? (Cooke 1997, 248). The centers of a loop of n equal circles of radius r are the vertices of an n-gon. Let Si be the sum of the areas inside the n-gon, S0, the sum of the areas outside. Show that Si S0 = 2 r. (Fukagawa and Rigby 2002, 27). 16th Century Europe: There is a capitain, whiche hath a greate armie & would gladly marshall them into a square battaile, as large as might be. Wherefore in his first proofe of a square forme, he had remaining 284 too many. And prouying again by putting 1 moare in the fronte, he founde wante of 25 men. How many soldiers had he as you guesse? (Recorde 1557, fol. G). A man wishes to have 500 rubii of grain found. He goes to a mill that has five stones. The first of these grinds 7 rubii of grain in an hour, the second grinds 5, the third 4, the fourth 3, and the fifth 1. In how long a time will the grain be ground and how much is done by each stone? (Clavius 1583, 191). Ancient Greece (624-546 BC):

Four waterspouts are filling a tank. Of the four spouts, one can fill the tank in one day, the second takes two days, the third takes three days, and the fourth takes four days. How long will it take all four spouts working together to fill the tank? Demochares has lived a fourth of his life as a boy, a fifth as a youth, and a third as a man, and has spent 13 years in his old age. How old is he? Two people are having a conversation. The first says, Give me 2 minae and I will have twice as much as you. The second responds, And if I receive the same amount from you, I will have four times as much as you. How many minae does each person have? Other: A man carried 540 bricks for a distance of 30 rods. For this, they gave him 1 ban of grain. Now he carried 300 bricks and finished the job. How much grain did they give him? (Robson 2007, 115). I have two fields of grain. From the first, I harvested 2/3 bushel of grain/unit area; from the second bushel/unit area. The yield of the first exceeds the second by 50 bushels. The total area of the fields together is 300 square units. What is the area of each field? (Van der Waerden 1983, 158).