1. The unknown has a face
When it appears, ignorance is no more

2. Take two numbers and subtract what
You want as surplus or surplus

3. So you decrease or increase, then call this
The error of the unknown, not its deeds

4. Increasing it affirms above the line
Decreasing affirms below

5. So your first unknown, multiply by the highest
Of the two errors, and the other by the greatest

6. Where the two errors differ, add
Where they agree, subtract the lesser

7. And divide what you added at difference
By the two errors added both

8. So your unknown comes out a sun
That leaves ignorance behind, having departed