Book:Tablet/YBC 4652/Examples

Example from YBC $\mathit { 4652 }$

I found a stone, but did not weigh it. After I weighed out six times its weight, added $2$ gin and added one third of one seventh [of this new weight] multiplied by $24$, I weighed it. The result was $1$ ma-na. What was the original weight of the stone?

A weight of $1$ ma-na equals $60$ gin.

Solution

Let $x$ gin be the weight of the stone.

Then the word problem can be expressed in symbols as:

$\paren {6 x + 2} + \dfrac 1 3 \times \dfrac 1 7 \times 24 \paren {6 x + 2} = 60$

Algebraic manipulation reveals that $x = 4 \dfrac 1 3$.

Sources

• 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $4$: Lure of the Unknown: Equations