Gulliver describes the Lilliputians as "most excellent Mathematicians" because they have constructed machines that are capable of carrying huge trees and performing other great feats. They use these machines to build giant ships called Men of War that are some nine feet long (huge, considering that each Lilliputian is only six inches tall). It is through the use of such a machine that they manage to transport Gulliver, a human man who is six feet tall, from the beach to their town. It takes nine hundred of the strongest Lilliputian men three hours to raise and sling him into the machine, where they tie him down again. Then, fifteen hundred of the emperor's horses drag both the machine and Gulliver the half mile to town. The precise calculations required to complete such an endeavor is quite impressive to Gulliver, and he attributes their ability to do so to their excellent mathematical skills.
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