Book, A College Algebra
date: label: date made
content: 1902
name: label: author
content: Wentworth, G. A. (George Albert)
notes: label: Description
content: <I>A College Algebra</I> is typical of mathematics textbooks at the turn of the twentieth century in that the book echoes earlier algebra textbooks with its reliance on vocabulary and rules - the only structural improvement Wentworth included from <I>Elements of Geometry</I> is use of boldface - while it at the same time included pre-calculus topics such as series, the binomial theorem, and derivatives. There is also an extensive section on combinations and permutations. Exercises emphasizing repetitive drill (Wentworth would have called it "learning by doing") are scattered throughout the book. The word problems are contrived but do not impart the moral lessons common of earlier textbooks. There are no illustrations in <I>A College Algebra</I> until functions are graphed on page 432 and following. Some oddities in the book include: a nonstandard technique of summation (p. 57), a process for computing square roots (pp. 93-95), and an alternative symbol for factorials (p. 256). There are no owners' marks in this copy, although there are jottings giving hints on some exercises and marking others as assigned or completed. The book was donated to NMAH by Mrs. Chauncey Brockway Schmeltzer, whose husband earned a B.S. (1919) and M.S. (1920) from the University of Illinois and taught surveying there from 1920 to 1926. Wentworth was memorialized with a highway marker on Route 16 in his birthplace, North Wakefield, NH.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: David E. Smith, "Wentworth, George Albert," in <I>Dictionary of American Biography</I>, vol. 19, part 2, pp. 655-656.
label: Description
content: Clark A. Elliott, <I>Biographical Index to American Science</I>.
label: Description
content: www.newhampshire.com/pages/HistmarkerLake.cfm#georgeawentworth [accessed 23 August 2001].
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Education
label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. C. B. Schmeltzer in Memory of C. B. Schmeltzer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.3110.11
label: catalog number
content: 1986.3110.11
label: nonaccession number
content: 1986.3110
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Book
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.2 cm x 13.7 cm x 19.4 cm; 1 1/4 in x 5 13/32 in x 7 5/8 in