THE AMERICAN COMMON-SCHOOL ARITHMETIC; IN WHICH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SCIENCE ARE FULLY PRACTICAL EXAMPLES. DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF COMMON SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. BY RUFUS PUTNAM, PRINCIPAL OF THE BOWDITCH (ENGLISH HIGH) SCHOOL, SALEM, MASS. BOSTON: TAPPAN, WHITTEMORE & MASON. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by RUFUS PUTNAM, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. From Nath. Silsbee, Jr. Esq. Mayor, Salem, Mass., and Chairman of the School Committee. RUFUS PUTNAM, ESQ. Salem, Sept. 21, 1849. Dear Sir, I have received much satisfaction from a perusal of your "Common School Arithmetic," and after a careful examination of its contents and arrangement, am happy to say, that I consider it eminently adapted to furnish all the particular information, upon the subject of which it treats, required by young men about to enter upon business pursuits. Trusting it will meet the success its merits deserve, I remain, respectfully yours, NATH. SILSBEE, Ja From O. Carlton, Master of the Public Latin School. Salem, June 30th, 1849. RUFUS PUTNAM, ESQ. Dear Sir, I have examined your Arithmetic with considerable care; and I can freely say, that it seems to me to be better adapted to fit boys for business, or the counting-room, than any other within my knowledge. Yours truly, O. CARLTON. From Darius Forbes, Sup. of Public Schools in Windsor Co. Vt. Chester, August 2d, 1849. This book contains a great amount of matter of an eminently practical character. Its methods are conformed to those in actual use in the counting-room, and therefore adapted to fit young men for actual business life. It is without answers, and I hope never to see the "Key" * bound up with the work itself, an error becoming very common. DARIUS FORBES. From Samuel W. Bates, Master of the Mathematical Department, Adams School, Boston. TO TAPPAN, WHITTE MORE, & MASON. Boston, July 2d, 1849. Dear Sirs, I have examined with much pleasure "The American Common School Arithmetic." It contains a great quantity of well arranged arithmetical matter; and, in my opinion, there is no arithmetic published so well adapted as this to the wants of our Common Schools. Yours truly, SAMUEL W. BATES. "At a meeting of the School Committee of Salem, Mass. August 25, 1849, it was voted unanimously, that Putnam's Arithmetic be adopted as a text-book in the public schools of this city. "Salem, August 28, 1849." "Attest, J. CLOUTMAN, City Clerk. The "Key" is found with and without the other parts of the work. HARVARD Cʻ. PREFACE. "WHAT are the peculiarities of the work?" "In what respects does it differ from books on this subject already in use?" are among the first questions propounded to the publisher who attempts to introduce a new school-book to a community already surfeited with textbooks in the various departments of science. To these and similar questions, it may be replied, that while the present work is, in many respects, like its predecessors, it differs from most of them in some important particulars, among which are the following. 1. In the great variety and amount of Arithmetical matter in a comparatively small compass. 2. In its practical character. 3. In treating of Integral and Fractional Decimals in connection. 4. In the number and variety of mental and oral exercises interspersed through the book, in connection with exercises for the slate. 5. In embracing the details of the science under general principles, and avoiding, as much as practicable, a multiplicity of specific rules. A few remarks will illustrate the object and extent of these peculiarities. 66 1. The number of exercises for the pupil, and the amount and variety of arithmetical matter, is much greater than from the size of the book would seem possible. For example, the pupil is directed to Multiply 56789 by 2; by 4; by 5; by 6; by 7; by 8; by 9;" — and to Divide 30654016 by 13; by 14; by 15; by 16; by 17; by 18; by 19;"--and, in Fractions, to divide mentally 5% by 2; by 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9;-and to "" Compute the interest on $1418.46 from Jan. 15, 1841, to Nov. 25, 1846; from Dec. 14, 1845, to May 6, 1848; from July 4, 1776, to March 23, 1781; from Aug. 25, 1837, to Nov. 16, 1848," &c. Thus, without embarrassing the pupil, exercises are embraced in a single line, which might easily be made to occupy, and which, in most books, are made to occupy, several times as much space. By this means, a great number of mental and oral, as well as written exercises, of practical importance is introduced, without making the size and expense of the book greater than of those books from which such matter is excluded. 2. While the author has aimed to make the work strictly elementary, to lead the pupil to analyze and demonstrate, as far as possible, every important principle, and to present every topic in the manner which his experience has suggested as best adapted to the capacities of the learners, as well as best fitted to develop their mental powers, he has kept in view the maxim that "Children should be taught those things while young which they are to practise when they become men." The modes of computing time between different dates, (Art. 69,) Discount, Accounts Current and Interest Accounts, and many other topics, though different from what the learner is taught in some text |