Leaf from one of Beethoven's Conversation Books, ca. December 4–6, 1826

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Reproduction from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin--Preussischer Kulturbesitz

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Exhibited: The Beethovens on the Rhine (2020). Exhibition text: Although Beethoven learned basic reading, writing and arithmetic at school, he apparently never learned to multiply. If he had to multiply a number several times, he usually wrote the number out multiple times in a long column and added them together as a sum. This entry in a conversation book from December 1826 shows Beethoven’s nephew Karl explaining to his 55-year-old uncle how to do multiplication sums. Karl writes: “Multiplication is a simplified form of addition, wherefore examples are performed in the same manner. Each product is set under its proper place. If it consists of two digits, the left one is added to the product of the next. Here is a small illustration: 2348 multiplied by 2.”

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