《孫子算經卷下》 "Sun Tzŭ's Computational Classic: Volume III"
§4. Multiplication determining a total (1)

This section gives a word problem where multiplication is used to determine a total.

Translation

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
今有佛書、凡二十九章、章六十三字。問字幾何。 Suppose there be [a] Buddhist book, totalling twenty-nine chapters, [each] chapter sixty-three characters. [We] ask, how many [be the] characters?
答曰、一千八百二十七。 Answer saith: one thousand eight hundred [and] twenty-seven.
術曰、置二十九章、以六十三字乘之、即得。 Method saith: put [down the] twenty-nine chapters; multiplying it by [the] sixty-three characters, [we] are done.
  • In modern notation,
    29 \unit{chapters} \times \frac{63 \unit{characters}}{\unit{chapter}} = 1827 \unit{characters}.

Cite this page

Conway (2023). "Sun Tzŭ's Computational Classic: Volume III §4". <https://yawnoc.github.io/sun-tzu/iii/4> Accessed yyyy-mm-dd.