Conversations on Arithmetic

This 1835 work uses a conversational method to teach arithmetic, from the written numbers through to square and cube roots.

Sarah Ricardo Porter (Author)

9781108075350, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 January 2015

270 pages
21.5 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.37 kg

In this 1835 work, Sarah Porter, née Ricardo (1790–1862) shows her enthusiasm for arithmetic, and her concern for teaching it in a way that will develop the pupil's mind: 'There is no branch of early education so admirably adapted to call forth and strengthen the reasoning powers.' She uses the device of a conversation between pupil and teacher, popularised by Jane Marcet (several of whose works are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), to guide young Edmund from the written symbols for numbers through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, proportion, and square and cube roots. Answers to the questions are provided at the end of the book. A member of the Central Society of Education, which promoted imaginative theories of education instead of rote learning, Mrs Porter reworked her book in 1852 as Rational Arithmetic, a more conventional and less entertaining textbook for use in schools.

Preface
Part I: 1. Notation and numeration
2. Addition
3. Subtraction
4. Multiplication
5. Division
6. Method of proof
7. Application of the foregoing rules
Part II: 1. Explanation of signs, and properties of numbers
2. Rule of three
3. Factors, etc., method of cancelling
4. Fractions
5. Decimals
Part III. Commercial Arithmetic: 1. Tables - reduction
2. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of compound quantities
3. Application of decimals and fractions, to compound quantities, etc. - practice, interest, etc.
Part IV. 1. Arithmetical progression - geometrical proportion and progression
2. Permutation
3. Squares and cubes - square and cube root
Answers to examples and questions.

Subject Areas: Philosophy & theory of education [JNA]