The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-01-24
handy WITH FRACTIONS.
Alan's Uncle's Experiences With
Applied Mathematics.

racing HIS HHptTS dCTDSS HIS NdlStbdiitl
and extending his feet toward the fire;
81 used to be quite handy with frac-
tons myself. In fact, I eXcelled in
mathematics. Your poor father, now,
had no faculty for them. 1t is singular
how diversified talents are in the SAINT
family, singular. indeed"
Henry was considered the best
mathematician in his class" said Alan's
mother, with a little flush.
In pure mathematics, Mary, in pure
mathematics, only" responded uncle:
''but in the applied article he was
lam~entably weak"
What Alan's mother might have re-
piled to this was lost in interest in
Alan's experiment in which the eat
suddenly ceased to be a passive agent.
BY and by. when Alan had bathed the
scratches on his hand and convinced
himself that the wound on his ear was
only a superficial one. he said: Give
me an example, uncle
Certainly" said uncle. affably; add
two-thirds and four-fifths and subtract
one-sevcnth."
Alan worked away for a minute and
then asked: What is the answer
uncle?"
Err think you had better let me
see how you have done it, my boy. That
will do you more good. Um-ah-@5.
no. 1O5-ycs. to be sure. Why, no.: the
one-seventh is to be sIbtracted. Fiji
teen. 10. l.. -. seven over; that makes
one and sevcn-fifteenthS. Now lets
sec-ycs. 100. How will that come out?
Yes, that's right-one and thirty-four-
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. Quite right.
Alan. you have the answer, only your
way of doing it is a little peculiar.
1t took You a long time to do it.
uncle"
Yes. the light was bad. couldn't
see the fignrcs very well. You could
improve on your figures, Alan"
tive me another, uncle. please.
Make up a tough enc, cant your"
'All right. John and ~.Jamcs-you'd
better write this downtown and James
had 20 cents between them; John
bought three apples at 1=s cents each:
James bought Il jack-knife with four
blades: for the big blade he paid cents;
for the little blade, 1i5centS; for the
file blade, ; cents: for the blade with a
nick in it, So cents, and for the handle
twice as much. How much money did
,tey have left?"
Twice as much as what?"
Twice as much as-why twice as
much as for the little blade. of course.
That is what / said. Now, how much
did they have left?"
Nobody even bought a knife that
way"
Probably not. but that is applied
mathematics, applying principles to
everyday transactions such as you will
engage in when you get older. Still.
perhaps. that is a little 90 far along
for you?"
oh. l can do it easy enough" said
Alan. and he went to work. In a few
minutes he began TO look puzzled; then
he asked: What do o want to
know"
How much they had left?"
The puzzled look grew as the figures
multiplied. Why. said the boy, final
ly. they wouldn't have any thing left.
They would 1--WE or James would owe.
/ sc cents on the knife. or John would
have to give up some of the apples"
'Eh?" said uncle. with a start: 'how's
that?r
Alan went carefully over the problem
step by step. and. as he proceeded,
confidence in himself disap-
peared, and in its wake ran embarrass-
and humiliation. But uncle has
lived two score and more years in
world of p~erpleXities for nothing.
and when he was led to see that Alan
was right uncle was himself again.
'Ah, yes" he said, 'youare quite right.
my boy, entirely right. ! was wonder
ing if you would find it out"
But | don't understand how there can
be any thing left"
There isn't" said uncle. composedly.
81 didn't intend there should be. You
may remember that told you this was
MISUNDERSTANDING princi-
pies to everyday transactions were l
the words l used. 1t is nothing
" W puN AloLS Nldli
they can pay for. In this simple prob
lem You have gained an insight into one
of the great principles of business life.
1t is well for you TO mingle theory with
practice, an excellent idea, indeed"
The paper behind which the face of
Alan's mother was hidden was shaking.
and there was a look on her face of
merriment struggling with mild indig-
Uncle settled back in his chair,
his fingers again, and realized
that he had crawled through a very
small hole and saved all the buttons on
his waistcoat.
Let me give you an example, uncle"
said Alan, thoughtfully. Not a made
up one, but one from the book. I'll
come to them pretty quick and l would
like to know how to do them"
"Er-perhaps you had better wait till
you get to them" said uncle. at is
as well not to cross a bridge"
Just then the eyes of Alan's mother APP
peared over the top of the paper and
straight into uncle's. That gen.
cleared his throat and said,
hastily: All rlght, my boy, all rlght;
lets have it."
Alan turned the leaves of his arith-
metic and then read:
"A father left his eldest son three-sevenths
Of his estate, his youngest son four sevenths Of
the remainder. and his daughter the remainder,
who received 81, 7sST less than the youngest
son; what was the value of the estate:"
please read that v again." said
uncle, nervously. Alan did so.
We'll the first thing to do" said
uncle, sis to find out what is the value
Of the estate
That's the last thing in the book"
"Eh? l am afraid l did not under
stand the example. You should learn to
read more plainly, young sir" ,
Alan read the example again and
uncle said: