FOR GRADED AND UNGRADED SCHOOLS BY SAMUEL HAMILTON, PH.D. AUTHOR OF "THE RECITATION," AND SUPERINTENDENT 615254 C COPYRIGHT, 1908, 1909, BY SAMUEL HAMILTON. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON HAM. ELEM. AR. W. P. 9 PREFACE THE "Elementary Arithmetic" is intended to cover the work of the first five years. It is divided into four parts. Part One includes the work ordinarily done during the first and second years. Part Two includes the work of the third year. It is devoted mainly to the presentation of the elementary facts and tables of arithmetic. The text-book should be placed in the hands of the pupil when he enters upon the work found in Part Two. Its pur Part Three covers the work of the fourth year. pose is to give a mastery of the fundamental operations, and, through the study of problems, to develop the ability to use these operations in a practical way. Part Four includes the work of the fifth year. It gives an elementary treatment of Fractions, Decimals, Percentage, Interest, Denominate Numbers, and Practical Measurements. The aim of this course is twofold: first, to give the child mathematical skill; second, to give him mathematical power. To these ends attention is invited to the following: 1. The prominence given to drill intended to give skill, and the frequency of systematic reviews. 2. The Study of Problems intended to give mathematical power. 3. The plan which provides an easy treatment of each subject before the complete treatment of it. 4. The easy steps in gradation. 5. The emphasis given to business arithmetic. 6. The appeal made to observation as a stimulus to mathematical thought. 7. The abundance of exercises for oral drill. The importance of oral drill has led the author to lay special emphasis on this kind of work. Pupils should be drilled thoroughly on the oral development and exercises in each subject, before taking up the written work. In many schools the unit of classification is the half year. With this in view, the subject-matter in the third, fourth, and fifth years has been separated into two parts. The easy treatment of topics covers the first half of the year, and the more complete treatment the second half. SAMUEL HAMILTON. |