FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC. DESIGNED FOR BEGINNERS. BY CHARLES DAVIES, AUTHOR OF FIRST LESSONS IN ALGEBRA, ELEMENTS OF SURVEYING, HARTFORD: A. S. BARNES & CO. JANUARY 25, 1924 ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by CHARLES DAVIES, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. Stereotyped by PREFACE. THE FIRST LESSONS IN ARITMETIC are designed for beginners. They are the first steps in a course of arithmetical instruction. They begin with counting, and advance step by step through all the simple combinations of numbers. In order that the pupil may be impressed with the fact that numbers express a collection of units, or things of the same kind, the unit, in the beginning, is represented by a star, and the child should be made to count the stars in all cases where they are used. Having once fixed in the mind a correct impression of numbers, it was deemed no longer necessary to represent the unit by a symbol; and hence the use of the star was discontinued. From the combinations of the unit, forming the whole numbers, the child is next made acquainted with its divisions, which form the fractions; and great care has been taken to consider each fraction by At the end of the oral arithmetic a supplement is added, which is intended for an exercise with the slate. There is another advantage which may be derived from the supplement. Instead of dividing a class, or keeping back the more apt scholars for those who are less gifted, the former may be employed on the supplement until the latter are ready to be advanced. |