If you’re trying to win using the Science Legacy Path in Civilization 7, you may come across a Narrative Event called "The Papyrus Problem." This event challenges you to tackle a mathematical problem that stretches back to ancient times.
If you’ve found your way to this Civilization 7 guide, you’re probably wondering what the answer to this question is. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered, and if you want to stick around to learn more about the Papyrus Problem and its history, we’ll answer that as well.
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The Papyrus Problem Answer
“There are seven houses, and each house has seven cats. Each cat kills seven mice, and each mouse has eaten seven grains of barley. Each grain would have produced seven gallons of cereal.
What is the sum of the enumerated things?”
At first, we are faced with a simple question. What is the sum of the above objects? At a surface level, the answer might be to simply do 7x7x7x7x7. That would give us, 16807, which is one of the options, so it must be correct?
However, that’s not what we have been asked to do. See, it’s a riddle, and the wording is important. While the word “sum” is indeed asking us to do just that, the word “enumerated” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Simply put, the word means to “establish the number of.” so to show our workings out, we will do the following.
Pro Tip: You can skip to the end of this section for the answer if you want to cheat for the answer
- Number of Houses: 7
- Each house has 7 cats: 7×7= 49 cats
- Each cat kills 7 mice: 49×7=343 mice
- Each mouse eats 7 grains: 343×7=2,401 grains
- Each grain produces 7 gallons of cereal: 2,401×7=16,807 gallons of cereal
Now, we need to sum each of the lines of the riddle together as shown below:
7+49+343+2,401+16,807=19,607
Final Answer: 19,607
To summarise, what we did there: We added together the 7 houses + the 49 cats + the 343 mice + the 2,401 grains + the 16,807 gallons of cereal.
Papyrus Problem Rewards
Well done, you’ve solved the riddle and now feel full of glee and wonder. You can now tell your family and close friends that you just solved a riddle going back to Ancient Egypt. In Civ 7, you will also be rewarded with a 150 boost to your science (this number seems to change based on when in the game it triggers), which is also pretty decent.
Pro tip: You will get the reward a few turns later.
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What is the Papyrus Problem
If you enjoy Civ, you might enjoy a free history lesson at the end of this guide. The history of the riddle goes back to around 1650 BCE, and is first found in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus.
Pro Tip: You can view the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus in the British Museum
The riddle is often referred to as the “Seven Houses Riddle,” and has been recreated and referenced for generations. While Medieval European mathematical texts and ancient Greek and Roman texts explored similar ideas, the most interesting modern example comes from the English folklore nursery rhythm “As I was going to St Ives” riddle.
As I went to St Ives
I met Nine Wives
And every Wife had nine Sacs,
And every Sac had nine Cats
And every Cat had nine Kittens
How many were there going to St Ives?
There are a number of more recent variations of this riddle, and a few more modern ones, but the general idea is always the same.
FAQ
How do you Trigger the Papyrus Problem?
The best way to trigger it is to focus on the Science Legacy Path Victory Condition. It took us two attempts to get it ourselves, and we’re not entirely sure what we did differently the second time. It’s very likely a random trigger if you hit a certain Science path threshold.
Can Other Legacy Paths Get the Papyrus Problem?
At this point, we’ve played quite a few games of Civilization 7, but only in our most dedicated Science playthrough did we get this to trigger.
What if you Fail the Papyrus Problem?
Obviously, you’ve used this guide, so you got it correct. However, if you don’t do it right, you’ll get a message a few days later saying you were wrong.
