Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1876-03-16
Educational.

Mr.. kLtr - in NY u"Ie oi Feb. l'th.
nation OF the Practical Ar.thrmctjc. the
ace dental omission Of one word. intrn>-
lied ;ur severity oi my 'piHtpE. but don't
tAiuA the general tcMoT OF the language,
Variants tie Interpretation pa, upon il by
'.Ir3chrr" that il i>A "Whoi,-.lr con-
d,luaA...u. utterly worthless" drew my
tir~; mathc'"at4cai inspiration from Gtrcu-
leaf. aud do not hesitate {" say, shai
have not Vet found any mathematical works
Tor our public schools superior to hi-. cx-
cepj in the atrans cement 81 the subject mat
ter. AID wished 10 protest against the au-
thor, al the Practical Arithmetic. using
Grecu.car> name and popularity to recon-
mend an Interior work. | believe Green
leaf knew what he was about when lac
wrote hi Arihmcties, and | cIa hardly
forgive authors who robe themselves IN
hi cast oil mantle, ard tamper with his
clear and concise rules.
Passing over in silence, Teachers hint,
at ms ignorance 81 the difference between
a Nidercal yea- and ii Solar or TROPICAL
year, | refer h.m To- page lo3 OF the Com
ZION school Arithmetic. and ask him 10
compare the definition, There given. for a
solar or Tropical year with the one IN The
Practical The one ia the Common school
i, iu-t IL near a. the English language can
express II. without recourse To long as
fg.Bfa
Snlar M TropicIt year Is ne time measured
from III. suns l,aruHg either eIIinor or soi-
sta, 10 Is retnru a. Ms same again. which
1 have been taught Is twenty and oAc third
minutes stoHsr than complete revolution
0fthe earth around the sun. calm thai
the definition. ia the Practl.Ii, : a mixed
one. and therefore incorrect.
The ruic, in the Practical Tor tue iou
fund 4m-ntal, are not complete. Examine
the one for Division; there j. TO direction
given Tor separating the u Visor. or quo
tieut from the Dividend by line. This |
consider a defect. a il j. reasonably sup
posed that a rule give. all the necessary
dii ections to insure convenience and accu-
racy: and lines drawn 10 separate the DIS
tinct parts ef question, are just As Eeces-
sary. a, the decimal point between dollars
and cents The Rule is very particular to
tclIus to write the Diyisor az the LETT OF the
Dividend. which 1, just a unnecessary as
tue non mentioning OF the separating lines.
for il makes no difference where yeu write
! your Divisor. neither does il make any diff
ference whether you separate your terms
/ bv lines, only as matter of convenience and
a guard agains, confusion of terms and
! parts of terms.
! On page 206. the answer given TO ques-
I ton IL cannot be obtained by a strict in
/ terprrtation OF the General Rule. The
/ Rule Tor Simple Proportion is such. that
one can comply with its directions and fail
/ to get "A correct answer. Illustration.
Page 234. question
SIG is to price required as II is to 80
multiplying II by 80 and dividing by lG
satisfies the Rule but not the question. In
order to satisfy the Rule we are obliged TO
apply to MY statement, Principle 3-page
| 232 instead of the Rule. In my opinion
Proportion should not cumber Common
School Arithmetic. as 1t is seldom, or Bey
er used outside of The School room. Page
2S3 Principle B. The word IF between the
word d9erence and the Squares is all abus,
of the proposition. ard serves to confuse
1t should be betiseeR. Compare Principle
4 page 292 with the Rule for the same, il
the Common School Arithmetic. aud mark
the difference 10 perspicHity. While thu
latter is clear, the former is-clear as
mud. The answer given to question 4 oil
the same page cdaaot be obtained by an,
rules of Mensuration in the Arithmetic.
Teacher" VIII bear in mind that thes,
questions are given to illustrate the rule
under which they are placed. and that tn
defects and errors have pointed out d.
not constitute all there ism the book. Th'
book has its merits; but those T canno
mention at present, as thorough critica
Review, would cost me and the pubIishe
of the American more time and patience
than would be profitable to either, or tn
public. 'Bucksport, ''"a sEs E.aS. W.