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present you divide this by the difference between the two parts, which is ten less two things. The quotient of this division is, according to the statement, five and a fourth. If, therefore, you muliply five and one-fourth by ten less two things, the product must be equal to the above amount, obtained by multiplication, namely, ten things less one square. Multiply now five and one-fourth by ten less two squares. The result is fifty-two dirhems and a half less ten roots and a half, which is equal to ten roots less a square. Separate now the ten roots and a half from the fifty-two dirhems, and add them to the ten roots less a square; at the same time separate this square from them, and add it to the fifty-two dirhems and a half. Thus you find twenty roots and a half, equal to fifty-two dirhems and a half and one square. Now continue reducing it, conformably to the rules explained at the commencement of this book.
(38) If the question be: “There is a square, two-thirds of one-fifth of which are equal to one-seventh of its root;” then the square is equal to one root and half a seventh of a root; and the root consists of fourteen-fifteenths of the square[1]. The computation is this: You
