Page:The Algebra of Mohammed Ben Musa (1831).djvu/109

 Take now a sum, one-fourth of which may be divided into thirds, or of one-sixth of which the moiety may be taken; this being again divisible by twenty. Such a capital is two hundred and forty. The mother receives one-sixth of this, namely, forty; twenty from this fall to the legacy, and she retains twenty for herself. The husband receives one-fourth, namely, sixty; from which twenty belong to the legacy, so that he retains forty. The remaining hundred and forty belong to the son; the legacy from this is two-fifths and one-fourth, or ninety-one; so that there remain forty-nine. The entire sum for the legacies is, therefore, one hundred and thirty-one, which must be divided among the two legatees. The one to whom two-fifths were bequeathed, receives eight-thirteenths of this; the one to whom one-fourth was devised, receives five-thirteenths. If you wish distinctly to express the shares of the two legatees, you need only to multiply the parts of the heritage by thirteen, and to take them out of a capital of three thousand one hundred and twenty.

But if she had imposed on her son (payment of) the two-fifths to the person to whom the two-fifths were bequeathed, and of nothing to the other legatee; and upon her mother (payment of) the one-fourth to the person to whom one-fourth was granted, and of nothing to the other legatee; and upon her husband nothing besides the one-third (which he must according to law contribute) to both; then you know that this one-third