Page:The Whetstone of Witte.djvu/75

 tiplication, wherby thei be made.

So that as it is multiplied thrise, so the nomber that doeth amounte thereof, hath gotten. 3. dimensiones, whiche properly belongeth to a bodie, or sound forme. And therfore is it called a Cube, or Cubike nomber Whiche nomber if you diuide by the roote, the quotient wil be the square of the same roote. As I said afore.

But to procede, if you doe multiplie that Cubike nomber by his roote, the nomber the riseth of it,

is called a Square of squares commonly: bicause that not onely it is a Square nomber, but the roote of it also is a Square nomber. As you maie perceiue by examination, of all those nombers that be in the fourth rewe,

whiche nombers I doe call longe Cubes: bicause thei make a line of Cubes. And hath in lengthe so many Cubes, as the firste roote doeth containe vnities.

This line of Cubes, although it haue for his bredthe, and depthe also, the thickenesse of one Cube, yet bicause it hath no nomber of Cubes, in bredthe, not in depthe (or generally no nomber of that thyng, whereof it is called a line) therfore maie it tollerably beare the similitude and name of a line. And so doe we commonly call lines, those smalle cordes, whiche are onely long, and haue litle bredthe to their length. But yet are thei not without all bredthe.

Scholar. And therof (I thinke men call a line of Brickes, and a line of Asshelers stones, when many bee leaid in a rowe, in lengthe: and but one (or fewe) in bredthe.

Master. You saie truthe. And that name doeth continue still, emongest all our countrie menne: saue that moste menne doe not call it sharply a line, but more broder (after tholde EuglisheEnglishe [sic] language) a laine. And so men vse to saie, a laine of wine buttes, and a laine of brode clothes: and soche other like.

And vse hath so largely applied this name, that it