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PROBLEM II.

To find the Solid Content of Squared or Four-sided Timber.

MULTIPLY the mean breadth by the mean thickness, and the product again by the length, for the content nearly.

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As length: 12 or 10 :: quarter girt : solidity.

That is, as the length in feet on c, is to 12 on D, when the quarter girt is in inches, or to 10 on D, when it is in tenths of feet; so is the quarter girt on D, to the content

on c.

Note 1. If the tree taper regularly from the one end to the other; either take the mean breadth and thickness in the middle, or take the dimensions at the two ends, and half their sum will be the mean dimensions: which multiplied as above, will give the content nearly.

2. If the piece do not taper regularly, but be unequally thick in some parts and small in others; take several different dimensions, add them all together, and divide their sum by the number of them, for the mean dimensions.

EXAMPLES.

EXAM. 1. The length of a piece of timber is 18 feet 6 inches, the breadths at the greater and less end 1 foot 6 inches and 1 foot 3 inches, and the thickness at the greater and less end 1 foot 3 inches and 1 foot; required the solid content? Ans. 28 feet 7 inches.

EXAM. 2 What is the content of the piece of timber, whose length is 24 feet, and the mean breadth and thickness each 1 04 feet? Ans. 26 feet.

EXAM. 3. Required the content of a piece of timber, whose length is 20-38 feet, and its ends unequal squares, the sides of the greater being 19 inches, and the side of the less92 inches? Ans. 29-7562 feet.

EXAM. 4. Required the content of the piece of timber, whose length is 27.36 feet; at the greater end the breadth is 1.78, and thickness 1.23; and at the less end the breadth is 104, and thickness 0-91 feet? Ans. 41.278 feet.

PROBLEM III.

To find the Solidity of Round or Unsquared Timber. MULTIPLY the square of the quarter girt, or of of the mean circumference, by the length, for the content.

By the Sliding Rule.

As the length upon c: 12 or 10 upon D ::

quarter girt, in 12ths or 10ths, on D: content on c.

Note 1. When the tree is tapering, take the mean dimensions as in the former problems, either by girting it in the middle, for the mean girt, or at the two ends, and taking half the sum of the two; or by girting it in several places, then adding all the girts together, and dividing the sum by the number of them, for the mean girt. But when the tree is very irregular, divide it into several lengths, and find the content of each part separately.

2. This rule, which is commonly used, gives the answer about less than the true quantity in the tree, or nearly what the quantity would be, after the tree is hewed square in the usual way: so that it seems intended to make an al、 lowance for the squaring of the tree.

EXAMPLES.

EXAM. 1. A piece of round timber being 9 feet 6 inches long, and its mean quarter girt 42 inches; what is the content? Ans. 1163 feet.

EXAM. 2. The length of a tree is 24 feet, its girt at the thicker end 14 feet, and at the smaller end 2 feet; required the content? Ans. 96 feet.

EXAM. 3. What is the content of a tree, whose mean girt is 3.15 feet, and length 14 feet 6 inches?

Ans. 8.9922 feet,

EXAM. 4. Required the content of a tree; whose length is 174 feet, which girts in five different places as follows, namely, in the first place 9.43 feet, in the second 7.92, in the third 6.15, in the fourth 474, and in the fifth 3.16?

Ans. 42.519525,

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CONIC SECTIONS.

DEFINITIONS.

1. CONIC SECTIONS are the figures made by a plane cutting a cone.

2. According to the different positions of the cutting plane, there arise five different figures or sections, namely, a triangle, a circle, an ellipsis, an hyperbola, and a parabola: the three last of which only are peculiarly called Conic Sections.

3. If the cutting plane pass through the vertex of the cone, and any part of the base, the section will evidently be a triangle; as VAB.

4. If the plane cut the cone parallel to the base, or make no angle with it, the section will be a circle; as ABD.

B

5. The section DAB is an ellipse when the cone is cut obliquely through both sides, or when the plane is inclined to the base in a less angle than the side of the cone is.

6. The section is a parabola, when the cone is cut by a plane parallel to the side, or when the cutting plane and the side of the cone make equal angles with the base.

7. The

B

A

D

7. The section is an hyperbola, when the cutting plane makes a greater angle with the base than the side of the cone makes.

8. And if all the sides of the cone be continued through the vertex, forming an opposite equal cone, and the plane be also continued to cut the opposite cone, this latter section will be the opposite hyperbola to the former; as dве.

And further, if there be four cones CMN, COP, CMP, CNO, having all the same vertex c, and all their axes in the same plane, and their sides touching.or coinciding in the common intersecting lines MCO, NCP; then if these four cones be all cut by one plane, parallel to the common plane of their axes, there will be formed the four hyperbolas GQR, FST, VKL, WHI, of which each two opposites are equal, and the other two are conjugates to them; as here in the annexed figure, and the same as represented in the two following pages.

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9. The Vertices of any section, are the points where the cutting plane meets the opposite sides of the cone, or the sides of the vertical triangular section; as A and B.

;

Hence the ellipse and the opposite hyperbolas, have each two vertices; but the parabola only one; unless we consider the other as at an infinite distance.

10. The Axis, or Transverse Diameter, of a conic section, is the line or distance AB between the vertices.

Hence the axis of a parabola is infinite in length, ab being only a part of it.

Ellipse.

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11. The Centre c is the middle of the axis.

Hence the centre of a parabola is infinitely distant from the vertex. And of an ellipse, the axis and centre lie within the curve; but of an hyperbola, without.

12. A Diameter is any right line, as AB or DE, drawn through the centre, and terminated on each side by the curve; and the extremities of the diameter, or its intersections with the curve, are its vertices.

Hence all the diameters of a parabola are parallel to the axis, and infinite in length. And hence also every diameter of the ellipse and hyperbola have two vertices; but of the parabola, only one; unless we consider the other as at an infinite distance.

13. The Conjugate to any diameter, is the line drawn through the centre, and parallel to the tangent of the curve at the vertex of the diameter. So, FG, parallel to the tangent at D, is the conjugate to DE; and HI, parallel to the tangent at A, is the conjugate to AB.

Hence the conjugate HI, of the axis AB, is perpendicular

to it.

14. An Ordinate to any diameter, is a line parallel to its conjugate, or to the tangent at its vertex, and terminated by the diameter and curve. So DK, EL, are ordinates to the axis AB; and MN, NO, ordinates to the diameter DE. ̧

Hence the ordinates of the axis are perpendicular to it. 15. An Absciss is a part of any diameter contained between its vertex and an ordinate to it; as AK or BK, or DN

or EN.

Hence, in the ellipse and hyperbola, every ordinate has two determinate abscisses; but in the parabola, only one; the other vertex of the diameter being infinitely distant.

16. The Parameter of any diameter, is a third proportional to that diameter and its conjugate.

17. The

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