Abe Lincoln's maths homework found in Harvard University archives

They've finally found Abraham Lincoln's maths homework (AP)

They've finally found Abraham Lincoln's maths homework. It shows he was a bit of a whizz at numbers, but it appears "Honest Abe" may not have been entirely truthful about his schooling. The two pages suggest the 16th US president, who was known to downplay his formal education, may have spent more time in school than he claimed.

Nerida Ellerton and Ken Clements, maths professors at Illinois State University, said the two pages were found in the Harvard University archives. The workbook is the oldest known Lincoln manuscript.

Based on the problems involved and dates on some of the pages – 1824 and 1826 – Lincoln probably worked in the book intermittently over several years. The professors think he could have started as early as the age of 10. "Most people say he went to school for anything between three months and nine months" over the course of his life, Professor Clements said. "We think he went to school [for up to] two years." And very little of the work is wrong, he added.