1.

  1. Der Posten: item, term.
  2. [1]
  3. Observe that this sentence begins with a verb, but is not a question, nor a command; also that the next clause begins with so. Under these circumstances supply it at the beginning.
  4. [2]
  5. Wievielmal ... sovielmal: as many times ... so many times.
  6. [3]
  7. Before translating um, see if the phrase ends with zu and an infinitive; if so um = in order.
  8. [4]
  9. oder aber: or else.
  10. [5]
  11. seinem Werte nach: according to its value = as regards its value.
  12. [6]
  13. Jede Art der Einheiten: each kind of units.
  14. [7]
  15. schriftlich: in writing.
  16. [8]
  17. indem man ... rückt and dadurch, dass man ... rückt are two German ways of saying by moving. Verbs following indem man or dadurch, dass man should be turned into the English present participle with by.
  18. [9]
  19. die ... Stelle: the place. This is the compound adjective construction which is so common in scientific German. Observe how the phrase is built up:
  20. die werdende Stelle
  21. the becoming place
  22. die leer werdende Stelle
  23. the empty-becoming place
  24. die dadurch leer werdende Stelle
  25. the thereby empty becoming place
  26. The article (die) or some other determining word is separated from its noun (Stelle) by a number of words; but in all cases the word next before the noun is an adjective or participle (werdende), which in turn is preceded by a word qualifying it (leer) and so on. In English the corresponding words follow the noun in the reverse order. This note will be frequently referred to.
  27. [10]
die werdende Stellethe becoming place
die leer werdende Stellethe empty-becoming place
die dadurch leer werdende Stellethe thereby empty becoming place