Japanese Artillery Square
date: label: date made
content: before 1876
notes: label: Description
content: This flat brass trapezoid has a rectangular shape cut out of one corner. Beginning at the left side of the rectangle and proceeding counter-clockwise, the corners have Japanese characters for the numbers 9, 4, 3, 5, and 7. The corners thus were used to draw regular polygons with 9, 4, 3, 5, and 7 sides. (For instance, the angle at the corner with the number 4 is 90°.) According to the accession record, the object was described as a <i>ho kaku-gi</i> (artillery or cannon square) and <i>hoyo ki</i> (artillery scale rule). A user would have made regular polygons in the course of designing fortifications and positioning artillery.
label: Description
content: This square was displayed by the Japanese Empire Department of Education at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It then was held by the Museum of the U.S. Bureau of Education until it was transferred to the Smithsonian National Museum in 1910. For more information, see MA.261298 and MA.261313.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Artillery
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Squares and Triangles
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Bureau of Education, Department of the Interior
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.261290
label: catalog number
content: 261290
label: accession number
content: 51116
objectType: label: Object Name
content: square, artillery
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8.8 cm x 6.8 cm x .1 cm; 3 15/32 in x 2 11/16 in x 1/32 in