I was intrigued by this description of Sumerian mathematics in the Sargonic (Akkadian) era.

Here’s a typical problem:

3600 + 5×60 nindan minus 1 ‘seed-cubit’ is the side of a square. Find the area.

And the answer, as every schoolchild knows, is:

2 šar-gal, 2 šar-u, 4 bur-u, 9 bur 5 1/8 iku, 5 1/2 sar 1 gin 2/3 še

Are you smarter than a Sumerian 5th grader?…