This indicates the strength of a numerical substrate based on 100. Combined Multiplication Tables Combined multiplication tables have a number of single multiplication tables written on one tablet. Almost all of the principal numbers appearing in combined tables also appear as the principal number on a single table. One of the most interesting facts about OB combined multiplication tables is that the individual sub-tables are nearly always written in the same order of descending principal number. This implies that many of the known tablets are practice copies of portions of a complete or 'canonical' list of tables.
Most tablets start either at the beginning or in the middle of the canonical list.
There is a hole through the center of the cylinder so that it could be turned on some kind of peg. The cylinder is quite fragmentary, but helps to construct the canonical list. The others survive in greater or lesser fragments and each included less sub-tables, but together they allow us to reconstruct the overall list. Go up to Mesoptamian Mathematics Home Page .