This section gives a word problem asking for powers of 9.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 今有出門望見九隄、隄有九木、木有九枝、枝有九巢、巢有九禽、禽有九雛、雛有九毛、毛有九色。 | Suppose there be [a] going out [the] entrance, looking [and] seeing nine embankments, [each] embankment having nine trees, [each] tree having nine branches, [each] branch having nine nests, [each] nest having nine fowls, [each] fowl having nine chicks, [each] chick having nine feathers, [each] feather having nine colours. | |
| 問各幾何。 | [We] ask, how many [be] each? | |
| 答曰、木八十一、枝七百二十九、巢六千五百六十一、禽五萬九千四十九、雛五十三萬一千四百四十一、毛四百七十八萬二千九百六十九、色四千三百四萬六千七百二十一。 | Answer saith: [the] trees eighty-one; [the] branches seven hundred [and] twenty-nine; [the] nests six thousand five hundred [and] sixty-one; [the] fowls five myriad nine thousand [and] forty-nine; [the] chicks fifty-three myriad one thousand four hundred [and] forty-one; [the] feathers four hundred [and] seventy-eight myriad two thousand nine hundred [and] sixty-nine; [the] colours four thousand three hundred [and] four myriad six thousand seven hundred [and] twenty-one. |
|
| 術曰、置九隄、以九乘之、得木之數。 | Method saith: put [down the] nine embankments; multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of trees. | |
| 又以九乘之、得枝之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of branches. | |
| 又以九乘之、得巢之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of nests. | |
| 又以九乘之、得禽之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of fowls. | |
| 又以九乘之、得雛之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of chicks. | |
| 又以九乘之、得毛之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of feathers. |
|
| 又以九乘之、得色之數。 | Again multiplying it by nine, resulteth in [the] number of colours. |
Conway (2023). "Sun Tzŭ's Computational Classic: Volume III §34". <https://yawnoc.github.io/sun-tzu/iii/34> Accessed yyyy-mm-dd.