Two crossbows compared: which shoots farther?
A problem contrasting bows of different power and different bend
Two crossbows are drawn at the head of the leaf, their bows bent to different degrees. Leonardo poses a problem: one bow of power one hundred bends half a braccio and shoots two hundred braccia, while another of power two hundred bends only a quarter braccio; which drives its proportionate arrow farther? He then asks the limiting case of a bow a hundred times stronger that opens a hundred times less.
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Which bow shoots its arrow the farther
One bow bends half a braccio with a power of one hundred and shoots two hundred braccia; the other has a power of two hundred but opens only a quarter braccio. Leonardo asks which will drive its proportionate arrow the farther, the first or the second.
The limiting case, a hundred times stronger
He extends the question: if another bow opened one hundred times less and were one hundred times stronger, which would shoot the farther with its given, proportionate arrows? The problem probes how power traded against travel affects the range.
Two crossbows under different tension
The two bows are sketched side by side at the top of the page, one drawn to a fuller arc than the other, illustrating the two states of tension that the text compares.