Algorithms; Arithmetic -- Early works to 1900; Mathematics -- History
Lo here you se .vi. lynes whiche stande for syxe places so that the
nethermost standeth for y^e fyrst place, and the next aboue it, for the
second: and so vpward tyll you come to the hyghest, which is the syxte
lyne, and standeth for the syxte place. Now what is the valewe of euery
place or lyne, you may perceaue by the figures whiche I haue set on
them, which is accordynge as you learned before in the Numeration of
figures by the penne: for the fyrste place is the place of vnities or
ones, and euery counter set in that lyne betokeneth but one: {and} the
seconde lyne is the place of 10, for euery counter there, standeth for
10. The thyrd lyne the place of hundredes: the fourth of thousandes:
{and} so forth.
_S._ Syr I do perceaue that the same order is here of lynes, as was in
the other figures [*117b] by places, so that you shall not nede longer
to stande about Numeration, excepte there be any other difference.
_M._ Yf you do vndersta{n}de it, then how wyll you set 1543?
_S._ Thus, as I suppose.
-------
-X--1--
----5--
----4--
----3--
_M._ You haue set y^e places truely, but your figures be not mete for
this vse: for the metest figure in this behalfe, is the figure of a
cou{n}ter round, as you se here, where I haue expressed that same summe.
-------------
-X--o--------
o
-------------
----o-o-o-o--
----o-o-o----
_S._ So that you haue not one figure for 2, nor 3, nor 4, and so forth,
but as many digettes as you haue, you set in the lowest lyne: and for
euery 10 you set one in the second line: and so of other. But I know not
by what reason you set that one counter for 500 betwene two lynes.
_M._ you shall remember this, that when so euer you nede to set downe 5,
50, or 500, or 5000, or so forth any other nomber, whose numerator
[*118a] is 5, you shall set one counter for it, in the next space aboue
the lyne that it hath his denomination of, as in this example of that
500, bycause the numerator is 5, it must be set in a voyd space: and
bycause the denominator is hundred, I knowe that his place is the voyde
space next aboue hundredes, that is to say, aboue the thyrd lyne. And
farther you shall marke, that in all workynge by this sorte, yf you
shall sette downe any summe betwene 4 and 10, for the fyrste parte of
that nomber you shall set downe 5, & then so many counters more, as
there reste no{m}bers aboue 5. And this is true bothe of digettes and
articles. And for example I wyll set downe this su{m}me 287965,
-X-----------
------o-o----
o
------o-o-o--
o
-X----o-o----
o
----o-o-o-o--
o
----o--------
o
-------------
which su{m}me yf you marke well, you nede none other exa{m}ples for to
lerne the numeration of [*118b] this forme. But this shal you marke,
that as you dyd in the other kynde of arithmetike, set a pricke in the
places of thousa{n}des, in this worke you shall sette a starre, as you
se here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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