Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes/Problems/9 - De Sago/Historical Note

Historical Note on Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes by Alcuin of York: Problem $9$: De Sago

According to the translator John Hadley, the explanation for the answer given in the original manuscript was "not enlightening".

It is supposed that a scribe may have skipped a line when transcribing it.

The text as given by Bede makes little sense:

The eightieth part of $400$ is $5$ and the hundredth part of $400$ is $4$.

Both eighty $5$s and one hundred $4$s give the same result, $400$.

There are that many cloaks.

Sources

• 1992: John Hadley/2 and David Singmaster: Problems to Sharpen the Young (Math. Gazette Vol. 76, no. 475: pp. 102 – 126)  www.jstor.org/stable/3620384