  Elsewhere (Metaphysics xi.4), where Aristotle builds an analogy with the science of being qua being, he seems to suggest that universal proofs of quantities (here too including numbers) concern continuous quantity (unlike the similar passage in Metaphysics iv.3). If so and if this is by Aristotle, it would correspond to the general theory of proportions as it comes down to us. One may well wonder if scholars have been led astray by a hyperbole about universal proofs.