OF ALGEBRA BY JAMES HADDON, M.A. SECOND MATHEMATICAL MASTER OF KING'S COLLEGE SCHOOL, LONDON WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING MISCELLANEOUS INVESTIGATIONS, AND A COLLECTION LOCKWOOD & CO., 7, STATIONERS' HALL COURT LUDGATE HILL 1871 5-23-33 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. EVERY one who has made some advancement in the study of this important branch of mathematical science, must have > found that, until he had acquired a knowledge of the nature of Equations, his progress was uninteresting, and, consequently, unsatisfactory to himself, because he met with many things which were not easily comprehensible to him, and because the application of the principles he was endeavouring to comprehend was so remote that he would frequently be led to question the utility of this science. This circumstance has frequently operated as a serious discouragement to persons entering upon the study of Algebra. The arrangement of the following pages is such that, as soon as the student shall have made himself so far acquainted with the first principles as to be able to perform the ordinary operations of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division, he shall be invited to consider the nature of an Equation, and to apply his knowledge, however small, to the solution of a Problem. Again, when he has become conversant with Algebraic Fractions, he will be presented with other equations and problems, which it is hoped his increased knowledge will enable him to encounter with confidence and success. One of the greatest of modern mathematicians has said that "In ediscendis scientiis exempla plus prosunt quam præcepta; " and any one who has been long practically engaged in the work of education will readily agree with him. With a view to assist the student, explanations and solutions of many examples and problems are given in all parts of this work. This Fourth Edition has been carefully revised, and such corrections and alterations introduced as will, it is hoped, render the work more acceptable to both teachers and learners. The encouragement it has already received has induced the publisher to recommend the enlargement of the work to the extent of an additional sheet: this has been filled up with the new matter forming the APPENDIX at the end. Opportunity has thus been afforded to introduce several topics of interest and utility that could not well be treated of in the body of the work, and at the same time to furnish the student with a collection of problems suited to exercise his talents and ingenuity in a tolerably extensive range of subjects in elementary algebra. |