Four Suspended Rods with Weights: A Simpler Balance Case
Preliminary balance diagrams meant to precede the tested figure on the facing page.
The page carries four diagrams of horizontal rods hung from an overhead beam, each loaded with boxed numerical weights and marked off along a graduated scale. Curved catenary-like lines swoop between the hung weights in the upper three figures, while the lowest rod shows just two weights. A caption line in mirror-script notes that this simpler figure should come before the upper figure that has already been tested. Rows of numbers alongside the rods record the magnitudes and spacings of the suspended weights.
On this page
Simpler balance figures preceding the tested case
Four suspended rods hang weighted boxes from graduated beams, with sweeping curved lines drawn between the loads in the upper figures. Leonardo notes that this simple figure is to be placed before the upper figure that has been experimented upon, ordering his sequence of balance trials. The lowest rod reduces the case to just two weights.
Numerical weights along the beams
The strings of figures beside the rods, such as 10 - 7 3 - 4 3 - 4 3 1 2 and 10 - 5 5 - 4 1 - 3 2, record the quantities and intervals of the weights hung on each beam. They supply the numerical data for computing where the loaded rods balance. The array is presented as the simpler preliminary to a fuller tested figure.