Greater and lesser inequality; air resisting a man's arms
Number ratios of weight, with a note comparing air resistance to a jumper
Red-chalk jottings set columns of number pairs beneath the traditional ratio terms 'greater inequality' and 'lesser inequality', the standard names for proportions in which one term exceeds or falls short of another. A prose note argues that a man's weight seems to grow lighter as he moves, and that the air struck by his beating arms resists and produces heaviness, just as a jumper drives into the ground at the start of a leap. The sheet forms part of Leonardo's inquiry into the weight and force a body exerts in motion.
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Columns of 'greater' and 'lesser inequality'
Number pairs are grouped under 'maggiore inequalita' (greater inequality) and 'minore inequalita' (lesser inequality), the traditional names for ratios in which one term exceeds or is exceeded by the other. The figures set out such proportional relations of quantity.
Air resistance and a man's apparent weight
The note observes that a moving man's weight seems to lighten, and that the air where his arms strike it resists and thereby produces heaviness. Leonardo likens this to a jumper who sinks into the ground at the very beginning of his leap.