A clever boy

Press, 26 February 1980, Page 14

A clever boy

If you wanted to know the weight of an elephant, how would you set about finding out?

An ancient Chinese, story tells how a young hoy calculated an elephant’s weight by reasoning; and by using a primitive weighing device. It is supposed to be a true story. The boy was considered to be a genius in his time

The boy’s name was Tsao Tsong. He was the son of an important government official who had

strong influence at a royal court in an ancient Chinese kingdom. The elephant was a gift from the kingdom of Burma. It had been wellreceived by the court officials because it had been trained to work; and the Chinese appreciated its strength and obedience. They called it the longnosed giant.

Tsao’s . father was curious about the weight of this strange large animal. He set his advisers the problem of working it out. Most of them thought of trying to. . obtain a weighing device Targe enough to do the job. v But.Tsao laughed at this, suggestion. He guessed it would be impossible to find a rope strong enough to hoist the elephant on to a weighing machine, even if a suitable one could be found.

Tsao had a different idea. He asked for 12 men, and a boat large enough to hold the massive animal.

Helped by the .trainer who had brought the elephant from Burma, the men managed to lead the long-nosed giant on ■ to a boat moored at the side of a river. Tsao followed the elephant. He watched the boat sink lower under the enormous weight. It

swayed and rocked, but. it did not capsize. When the movement ceased, Tsao carved lines on each side of the boat to mark the water level. Once this was done he had no further need of the elephant, and it was led back to land. Next, he asked the men to’ collect a large number of heavy rocks, and to load them into the boat until it sank to the level it. had reached under the elephant’s weight. Then Tsao knew that ‘the quantity of rocks equalled the'weight of the 'elephant.' TO weigh the rocks was an easy task, although it took a, long time. As each one was lifted on to a large set of scales, Tsao recorded its weight. Then Tsao added all the weights' together to arrive at . the total, which was nearly 6000 catty (a catty is a Chinese unit of measure equivalent to about 700 g). Waving the paper triumphantly, Tsao ran to his father to show him the total, and to explain how he had worked it Out. As a reward he was allowed to accompany a group travelling to Burma with a return gift for the people of the kingdom in the south.