Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes/Problems/41 - De Sode et Scrofa/Historical Note

Historical Note on Propositiones ad Acuendos Juvenes by Alcuin of York: Problem $41$: De Sode et Scrofa

First it is noted that all the piglets born must be female in order to have litters of their own.

The method of impregnation has also not been considered, but that is a mere detail.

What is interesting is that Alcuin makes a mistake in his arithmetic, calculating $32 \, 788$ as the number of pigs in the fourth corner.

This mistake is propagated to the final quantity of pigs, which he gives as $262 \, 304$.

Arithmetic clearly continues to be difficult throughout history, as translations through the ages give several different wrong results.

It is also noted that the word sode is not a standard Latin word, but all the texts have it.

Sources

• 1992: John Hadley/2 and David Singmaster: Problems to Sharpen the Young (Math. Gazette Vol. 76, no. 475: pp. 102 – 126)  www.jstor.org/stable/3620384