Squaring Lunes and Circles: Geometric Games
Crescent and lune constructions toward squaring curved figures, with flame notes; dated 3 March 1516
One of Leonardo's sheets of geometric games, crowded with circles, semicircles, and crescent- and lune-shaped figures explored in the quest to square curved surfaces with straight-sided equivalents. Across two densely written faces he equates lunes and crescents (falcate) to circles, semicircles, and squares, divides a circle into four equal lune-parts, and works toward squaring a quadrangle bounded by one curved side; one note is dated 3 March 1516. A short list at the upper right steps aside from geometry to record observations on flame, wind, and smoke. Further diagrams carry lettered points beyond the blocks transcribed here.
On this page
'Give me a square equal to this perforated surface'
Beneath crescent shapes (falcate) drawn in a scored semicircle, Leonardo poses the challenge to construct a square equal in area to the perforated figure, noting that the two crescents a b are worth the two greatest portions. It states the central problem of the whole sheet: replacing a curve-bounded area with a straight-sided one.
Lunes and crescents equated to circles and semicircles
In the central column Leonardo argues that the outermost crescents a b are worth the lower portion g d, that the smaller circle e f is worth half the greater circle and a quarter of the greatest, and that the great lune above is worth the circle it encloses together with the two great crescents. The reasoning compares the excesses of nested circles and semicircles.
Dividing a circle into four equal lune-parts
For a circle divided horizontally into parts b, c, d, a, Leonardo shows each part equals half of a circle of half its size. Removing the portions a b removes the value of a whole smaller circle, leaving the remainder e d equal to a second smaller circle, so the circle is divided into four.
Squaring a quadrangle with one curved side
Beginning 'if from equal things equal things are removed, the remainder stays equal,' Leonardo removes portion f from region b c f to leave the square b c, and portion o from sector n m o to leave the curve-sided quadrangle n m. He then reduces the curved quantity to a rectilinear one, advising that the squaring be carried out on as large a figure as possible for accuracy.
Notes on flame, wind, and smoke
A short list at the upper right leaves geometry aside to record how wind increases a flame while excessive wind destroys it, how wind can rise through a flame's axis from below, why a small flame turns to great smoke, and how a flame's surface is sharper in cold than in heat.
Dated working note: 3 March 1516
Beside a horizontal semicircle labelled n, o, m, Leonardo writes 'the first found in this rule' and dates the entry the 3rd of March 1516, fixing when he was pursuing these quadrature exercises.
