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Mathematics simplified and made attractive
Mathematics simplified and made attractive Author:Thomas Fisher Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: "Mathematics the science of number and measure; the science of quantity; the science which treats of magnitude and number, or whatever can be numbered or measure... more »d." [Noah Webster, Hartford, 1806. " We are now able to define mathematical science with precision, by assigning to it as its object the indirect measurement of magnitudes, and by saying it constantly proposes to determine certain magnitudes from others by means of the precise relations existing between them." [Jluguste Comte's Philosophy of Mathematics. OUR OWN DEFINITION. Let us ask ourselves, what is mathematics? It is the science of measurement. It measures quantities and numbers, magnitudes and multitudes. It teaches us to measure and to count. Mathematics, the science of measurement, teaches us to measure accurately things of all sorts, of all sizes, of all forms. By mathematics we measure not only distances, lines, linear measurements,— surfaces, areas, superficial measurements,— spaces, masses, solid contents or cubical measurements; but also forces, motions, velocities, intensities, times, weights, and the various relations of all and each of these, respectively to each other, and to the simplest forms of measurement. Mathematics uses numbers as one of its means of measuring. That part of mathematics which treats of numbers is called Arithmetic. Arithmetic is the use of numbers. Arithmetic is literally number measure. Algebra is a contrivance which records or represents concisely, mathematical truths. Algebra is in fact only a method of short hand. Algebra is to mathematics what stenography is to writing; a short hand method of recording what is already known. Mathematics is a certain and unchangeable science the most comprehensive means of interpreting the immutable laws of Nature. M...« less