The study of Qin-Han (221 BCE–220 CE) mathematics was once mostly limited to The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures (Jiuzhang suanshu 九章算術), but all that has changed in the last three decades with the successive discovery of mathematical manuscripts in Zhangjiashan tomb 247, Shuihudi tomb 77 and in the Yuelu Academy and Peking University collections. In addition to furnishing us with new, never-before-seen materials and shedding light on the origins of those incorporated into later classics like The Nine Chapters, these manuscripts document a variety in the language and formulation of common procedures that stands in stark contrast with the later mathematical canon. Focusing on the case of Litian 里田 land measurement problems in the aforementioned sources, and a peculiar variation thereupon in the Peking University Suanshu 算書 that the Chūgoku kosansho kenkyūkai (2015) suggests might be a mnemonic, this paper explores how what we see in these manuscripts might be linked to oral practices and basic training and what, if that be the case, this says about the redaction of The Nine Chapters.