Quadrature of lunes and curvilinear surfaces
A sustained study of squaring sickle-shaped figures, with a column of calculation
A page densely covered with Leonardo's investigation of the quadrature of lunes (falcate) and other curvilinear surfaces, illustrated by many small lettered figures. He works out that a given lune b e f equals five twelfths of its bounding square g f i d, gives the quadrature of single lunes and of a three-sided curvilinear figure, and states his guiding principle that squaring curvilinear surfaces means giving back on one side exactly what is taken from the other, without gap. A long lettered proof reduces one lune to a squarable form, and an inverted column of numbers records the accompanying arithmetic.
On this page
The lune b e f is five twelfths of its square
Below the first figure, the lune equals 5/12 of the square g f i d, its quadrature. Within that square lies the quadrature of the smaller lune c (a b c d); e f a c is as much a square as a b e d, and the whole is divided into twelve parts so that the quadrature of c amounts to five twelfths of the whole square, that is of the upper lune b e f.
Quadrature of single lunes
A figure near the right margin gives that a c is a lune whose quadrature is c b; a further lune has curves a b and b c equal to each other and equal and similar to the opposite curve.
Quadrature of a three-sided curvilinear figure
Leonardo states that he has given the quadrature of a surface of three curved sides, b c d, equal to a c, whose sides are of similar curvature but not equal.
The principle of squaring curvilinear surfaces
The quadrature of curvilinear surfaces is nothing other than being able to give back on one side that which is taken away from the other, without interval.
Long proof reducing a lune to a squarable form
Using earlier propositions, Leonardo removes equal parts d b and f from equal quantities so that c a remains equal to a b e, then doubles and superposes surfaces to leave c equal to b e. Because c is unsquarable he restores its parts, aiming finally to divide the remainder in half by a straight line rising in the middle of the curve and ending at angle g.
Column of calculation
Turned upside down on the sheet, a column of figures records the numbers 400, 16, 2400, 400, 6400, 1000, 10 and 64 accompanying the geometrical work.
