Math Puzzles’ Oldest Ancestors Took Form on Egyptian Papyrus

It’s true. That very British-sounding St. Ives conundrum (the one where the seven wives each have seven sacks containing seven cats who each have seven kits, and you have to figure out how many are going to St. Ives) has a decidedly archaic antecedent.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/science/07first.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss