Circular Portions in Sixteen Sectors, and Their Squaring
Numbered portions of a circle, and giving a sector equal to any given portion
The verso continues the quadrature of circular "portions" (segments). A circle is divided into sixteen sectors, and Leonardo labels a First, Second, Third and Fourth portion, showing how each terminates a sector and how one portion is made equal to another by adding or subtracting triangles. He candidly records uncertainty ("b is greater than c, but I do not know by how much") and, in the longest passage, sets out a method "to give a sector equal to any given portion" by lending and rendering surfaces of a larger circle.
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The first portion, terminus of each sector
A portion formed by the semicircle is marked "First - first portion." Leonardo notes that this first portion is the terminus of each sector.
Circle divided into sixteen sectors
The second portion, drawn on a circle divided into sixteen sectors, lacks the sector a c d, which is divided into the true sector o c d with the addition a o c.
Fourth portion: making portions receive one another
Drawing the smaller triangle o from the larger triangle p leaves a remainder equal, and squared, to the excess of portion n over portion f. Because the portions cannot in their natural figure wholly receive one another, he helps himself with the fifth method, lending a known surface or drawing one from the other in pieces.
To give a sector equal to any given portion
Since a c equals b d and the joined triangles are equal, he seeks a sector equal to portion a c: drawing the chord n m leaves the triangle b short by what c a took from portion d, so he renders to b as much of a portion of a larger circle as makes it equal, changing b only in figure, not in quantity. Thus portion c a d is made equal to the sector n m o.
