Squaring lunes: geometrical versus mechanical quadrature
Borrowing and returning portions to make a lune ('falcata') and its companion b d squarable.
Continuing the attempt to square the circle, Leonardo distinguishes a quadrature 'proved with the mind' as geometrical from one 'found with practice' as mechanical. He works with lunes (falcate), taking away outer portions and returning smaller inner ones so that a figure becomes squarable, and shows how the value of inner and outer parts can be recovered in a triangle b d. A long final argument compares portions drawn from circles that are double one another and lends a borrowed surface c to a lune, so that both the lune a and a companion figure b d become squarable.
On this page
Geometrical quadrature of the mind versus mechanical of practice
A squaring that is proved with the mind is geometrical; one that is found by practice is mechanical. This distinction opens the page and frames the lune constructions that follow.
Making a squarable portion by exchanging inner and outer parts
The peripheries of portions able to hold the value of the smaller portions taken from the lesser and returned to the greater are always squarable. Removing two outer portions from the lune (falcata) and returning four smaller inner ones, three go in and one out; the value of inside and outside is then found in triangle b d, leaving a squarable outer portion.
Squaring lune a by lending it the surface c
Portion e b equals half portion a e because their circles are double one another, so taking part e from both leaves lune a worth b. Since the lune's concave arc lacks room for all four returned portions, Leonardo lends it a surface c holding the remainder, then increases b to the value of a c, making the squarable surface b d equal to the squarable a c.
