COMMENTS ON SOME OBSCURE OR AMBIGUOUS POINTS OF THE TREATISE DE COMPUTIS ET SCRIPTURIS BY LUCA PACIOLI

Recently, the author translated Luca Pacioli's treatise De Computis et Scripturis into Spanish. During the translation, the author faced a series of points contained in the text which are not clear and which present some difficulties of interpretation. This paper shows the main points that are confusing, what constitutes their difficulty, the interpretations given by different specialists and, finally, the interpretation given by the author himself with the reasons he had to adopt it. In this way, it is to attempt to clarify the question, to offer a basis for judgement to those who are interested in this subject and, above all, to submit the position and interpretations adopted by the author to open discussion. Among the various doubtful and obscure points, the following ones are considered in this paper: the contradictions and ambiguities observed by some authors in regard to the treatment of the balance and closing of accounts; the discrepancies shown in several passages of the Treatise which give ground to the hypothesis that this Treatise is actually the result of the juxtaposition of two or more different texts, written at different moments and for different purposes; the particularities of two payment methods of the purchases which Pacioli distinguishes expressly (by ditta and by scritta di banco)', some ambiguities regarding the way to keep the accounts with banks and official bodies; various instructions concerning the location of the accounts in the Ledger, the situation of the date, and so on, which seem paradoxical and contradictory; and other ambiguities.