The hidden riches of the multiplication table

The origins of the famous multiplication table are lost in Greek antiquity. The earliest known representation, in the form of a 10 × 10 table, appears on the funerary stele of a geometer named Ptolemy (not the famous astronomer of the 2^nd century), dating from the early 3^rd century BCE.

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of a multiplication table (funerary stele of the geometer Ptolemy, early 3^rd century BCE; white marble; height 77 cm).