The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-09-21
Our G)lio.
From Chambers Journal.
TIE ROMANCE OF ARITHMETIC.


Among the readers or tho ADVOCATE
are College Professors aud Students,
Academicians, Teachers of Public
Schools aud Pupils, all more or less
yersed in the Science of numbers, to
whom We present the following curious
aud interesting exercises:
Surely figures owe us whatever little
of romance is TO be got out of them.
Have they not been associated from our
earliest childhood with the taste of tears
aud slate pencil Have they not been
the inyariable cause of ones Income
being insufficient to meet ones expen.
diturey Have they not tyrannized over
our tastes and enjoyments And has
not the sole reason of that gap which
ut every years end, prevents some OF
US, iu spite OF the most laudable intcn
tious, from making both ends meet, been
the obstinate persistence Of two aud two
iu their sullcu refusal to make any more
than fourl am rejoiced to learn that
Pythsgoras, who said something civil
about all the other numbers, had very
poor opinion Of figure two. am de
lighted to know that he regarded this
dlsreputable figure as the symbol Of
disorder, Of division, of confusion, and
inequality; US a hopelessly depraved
aumber oil evil augury, as an exceeding
bad principlc-nay, as the very Old
Bad Principle himself. I've no patience
with figure two, nor with the way in
which it gets held up to the public es
teen 10 connection with wha; is suppos-
ed to be the vlry satisfactory proposition
that two aud two make four cannot
regard it in that light. Whatever is
good for anything ought to improve aud
increase; aud if this boasted pair of
Iwos had any genuine enterprise at all
about them they would have made at
least six by this time-in which case !
might without difficulty have learned
what balance meant in my bankers
book. As it is, they have not merely
wasted their opportunities, but done me
personal injury. Besides, it is my
opinion that three and one make four
in manner quite as successful, and
very much less obtrusiye.
The most romantic of all numbers is
figure nine, because it cant be multi
piled away or got rid Of anyhow. What.
ever you DO, it is as sure to turn up
again as was the body of Eugene Arams
victim. Que remarkable property Of
this figure (said to have been first dis
covered by W. Green, who died in
1894, is that all through the multipli
cation table the product of nine comes
to nine. Multiply by what you like aud
it gives the same result. Begin with
twice nine, Is; add the digits together,
and / aud s make .. Three times nine
are %; aud 2 and Z makc9 So il goes
ou, up to eleven times nine, which gives
80. Very good; add the digits; 8 and
are Is, aud 8 and are 8. Going on
to any extent, it is impossible to get
rid of figure 8. Take couple of in.
stances at random. Three hundred and
thirty eight times niue are 3,05l; add
up the figures and they give 8. Five
thousand aud seveu,y.oue times nine
are 1868; the SUN Of these digits is
27; and 2 and Z are 8,
NJ. de Maivan found out another
queer thug about this number-name-
ly, that if you take any row of figures,
aud reversing their order, make sub
traction sum of it, the total is sure to
be 8. %or example:
Take 5071
Reverse the figure 1905
3366=lS, and | plus So.