Study Bava Batra folio 27A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
בית סאה בשבילן. כמה הוו להו – תרי אלפי וחמש מאה גרמידי; לכל חד כמה מטי ליה – תמני מאה ותלתין ותלתא ותילתא; אכתי נפישי ליה דעולא! לא דק.
beit se’a for their sake. How much is that area in cubits? It is 2,500 square cubits. And how much area is that for each of the trees? It is 833⅓. Still, Ulla's amount is greater than this. The Talmud answers: Ulla was not precise in this matter.
אימור דאמרינן לא דק – לחומרא; לקולא – לא דק מי אמרינן?!
The Talmud asks: One can say that we say that a Sage was not precise in his measurements when his ruling leads to a stringency; but do we say that he was not precise if his measurements lead to a leniency? According to the previous explanation, Ulla exempts the owner of a tree from first fruits even in a case where his tree does not in fact draw nourishment from his neighbor’s field.
מי סברת בריבועא קא אמרינן?! בעיגולא קא אמרינן!
The Talmud answers: Do you maintain that we say the roots extend that far in a square, i.e., one measures 16 cubits to each side of the tree? Not so; we say this with regard to a circle, that is, the roots extend in a circle surrounding the tree, as the area of a circle is smaller than that of the square circumscribing it.
מכדי כמה מרובע יותר על העיגול – רביע; פשו להו שבע מאה ושתין ותמניא; אכתי פש ליה פלגא דאמתא! היינו דלא דק – ולחומרא לא דק.
The Talmud asks: Now, by how much is the area of a square greater than the area of a circle with a diameter the length of the side of that square? It is greater by 1/4th of the area of the circle. If so, 768 square cubits, 3/4ths of 1,024, remain for each tree, but there still remains ½ cubit more based on the Mishnah’s calculation. In other words, the measurement would be more accurate if a tree is considered to draw nourishment from a distance of 16½ cubits on each side. The Talmud answers: This is why we said that Ulla was not precise, and he was not precise in a manner that leads to a stringency, as one brings first fruits even from a tree that stands just 16 cubits from the boundary, rather than 16½.
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.