This section gives a worked example of dividing a given quantity into weighted portions.
Chinese source text: Version A, Version B, Version C, Version D.
Unless noted otherwise, I follow the text from Version D, 《知不足齋叢書》本.
| Source text | Target text | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 今有三雞共啄粟一千一粒。雛啄一、母啄二、翁啄四、主責本粟。三雞主各償幾何。 | Suppose there be three chickens together pecking grain one thousand [and] one granules. [The] chick pecketh one, [the] mother pecketh two, [and the] father pecketh four, [their] owners' debt [being the] original grain. How much recompenseth each of [the] three chickens' owners? | |
| 答曰、雞雛主一百四十三、雞母主二百八十六、雞翁主五百七十二。 | Answer saith: [the] chicken chick's owner one hundred [and] forty-three; [the] chicken mother's owner two hundred [and] eighty-six; [the] chicken father's owner five hundred [and] seventy-two. |
|
| 術曰、置粟一千一粒為實、副并三雞所啄粟七粒為法。 | Method saith: put [down the] grain one thousand [and] one granules as [the] dividend, [and] subsidiarily combine [the] grain that [the] three chickens peck, [even] seven granules, as [the] divisor. | |
| 除之、得一百四十三粒、為雞雛主所償之數。 | Dividing them, resulteth in one hundred [and] forty-three granules, being [the] number that [the] chicken chick's owner recompenseth. | |
| 遞倍之、即得母翁主所償之數。 | Successively doubling it, doth result in [the] number that [the] mother's [and] father's owners recompense. |
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Conway (2023). "Sun Tzŭ's Computational Classic: Volume III §30". <https://yawnoc.github.io/sun-tzu/iii/30> Accessed yyyy-mm-dd.