BY HERBERT E. HAWKES, PH.D. ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN YALE UNIVERSITY AND WILLIAM A. LUBY, A.B. AND FRANK C. TOUTON, PH.B. INSTRUCTORS IN MATHEMATICS IN CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL HARVARD ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL COPYRIGHT, 1909, 1910, BY HERBERT E. HAWKES, WILLIAM A. LUBY, AND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 210.7 The Athenæum Press PREFACE This book, intended for the first year's work in algebra, contains ample material for a course of ten months. In its preparation a serious effort has been made to utilize the valuable suggestions in which the widespread discussion of the teaching of algebra for the last ten years has been fruitful. The aim throughout has been to build up a textbook thoroughly modern, scientifically exact, teachable, and suited to the needs and to the ability of the boy and the girl of fourteen. The choice of topics and their treatment have been determined by the fact that many students now enter geometry and physics after one year's work in algebra. In the arrangement of topics it has seemed wise to adhere closely to the traditional order. The material itself has been selected with the intention of affording the student ample drill in the elementary technic of algebra and a commensurate development of his reasoning power. Constant reference has been made to arithmetic in explaining the various algebraic processes. Each process has been exemplified in one or more typical solutions, and wherever practicable these solutions have been accompanied by a suitable method of checking. The material intended to develop purely technical skill has been graded carefully, no extremely difficult exercises being included. Especial care has been used in the selection of the exercises in equations, the object being to have as great a variety as possible and yet to give only equations whose roots can be verified with a reasonable amount of labor. Usually the verification is far more brief and less difficult than the solution. |