Wallace C Boyden

A First Book in Algebra Wallace C Boyden

In preparing this book, the author had especially in mind classes in the uppergrades of grammar schools, though the work will be found equally well adaptedto the needs of any classes of beginners. The ideas which have guided in the treatment of the subject are the follow-ing: The study of algebra is a continuation of what the pupil has been doingfor years, but it is expected that this new work will result in a knowledge ofgeneral truths about numbers, and an increased power of clear thinking. All thedifferences between this work and that pursued in arithmetic may be traced tothe introduction of two new elements, namely, negative numbers and the rep-resentation of numbers by letters. The solution of problems is one of the mostvaluable portions of the work, in that it serves to develop the thought-powerof the pupil at the same time that it broadens his knowledge of numbers andtheir relations. Powers are developed and habits formed only by persistent, long-continued practice