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To Each His Due

A man has four creditors.  To the first he owes 624 ducats; to the second, 546; to the third, 492; and to the fourth 368.  It happened that the man defaulted and escaped and the creditors found that his goods amounted to 830 ducats in all.  In what ratio should they divide this, and what will be the share of each?

General Trattato di Numeri et Misure (General Treatise on Number and Measure), Tartaglia, 1556

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"To Each His Due," Convergence (July 2006)