Integers were used in the 15th century by European traders to label barrels of grain or flour. For example, a barrel that was 1 pound too heavy was labeled +1, and a barrel that was 1 pound too light was labeled β1.
A trader checked twenty 50-pound barrels and found the labels to be: five β3s, nine β5s, two +4s, and four β8s. Find the actual total weight of the barrels.β