PREFACE. THE student is recommended to go through this treatise in the following order : First, to master the 'Preliminary Algebra,' and not to go further until he finds that, when covering up the right-hand column and setting himself any question in the left-hand column, he can at once work out (not merely supply from memory) the required answer. Secondly, taking the Algebraical Enunciation which stands at the top of the right-hand column in each Proposition, to learn to supply the proof which follows it. To do this, he should cover the rest of the right-hand column, and try to work out the proof for himself, with the help of the directions in the left-hand column. As every step of the work has been already done in the 'Preliminary Algebra,' this ought to be possible without any reference to the right-hand column but if any difficulty should occur, there will usually be found a marginal reference to the 'Preliminary Algebra,' and it will be better to turn back to the section referred to, and so refresh the memory, than to look at the right-hand column, which should only be uncovered, when the proof has been written out, as a test of the correctness of the work. Thirdly, to practise himself in working out the same proofs, without the help of the directions in the left-hand column, from the Algebraical Enunciations only. These are given by themselves at p. 49. |