Triangular Balances and Weight Calculations
Faint diagrams of two- and three-weight balances with columns of figures
This very faint sheet carries schematic diagrams of balances—including Leonardo's 'triangular balance' with three suspended weights—annotated with weights and columns of arithmetic. The transcribed notes give only bare numbers (weights of 1, 2, 5 and their sums such as 29 and 56) marking the loads and the centre of the balance. The leaf also bears untranscribed faint red-chalk sketches and further ruled scales that are not part of the transcription.
On this page
Triangular balance with three weights
A balance is drawn with two weights and the marked 'centre of the weight' between them (1 and 5), and repeated as a triangular balance carrying weights of 1, 5 and 2. The figures track how the loads distribute about the balance's centre.
Columns of weight figures
Beside the balances stand columns of numbers combining the weights, with running sums such as 27, 29 and 56. They are the arithmetic of balancing the several loads rather than continuous prose.