A total can sometimes draw attention to what is missing. On a limestone ostracon in The Met collection, the surviving numbers do not add up to the recorded total.
Follow the museum’s explanation
The record for object 22.3.29 describes an account written in black ink. A broken upper edge preserves a trace of an earlier sign, and the total exceeds the sum of the remaining numbers. The museum uses these details to support the conclusion that the written area was once larger.
Do not turn a gap into an error
It would be premature to label the ancient calculation mistaken while ignoring the loss of part of the record. The surviving object and the original account are not identical sets of information.
Make two note columns: evidence preserved and information absent. Place the break and surviving figures in the first; place the lost section in the second.
Keep uncertainty in the subject too
The museum notes that the account’s final section gives a sum in bags without establishing the nature of the transaction. Do not supply a commodity simply because it seems plausible.
This example complements distinguishing writing material from script. Here the physical condition of the surface matters directly to how the calculation can be read. The accompanying artwork is illustrative; the linked record documents the actual object.