Educ T 119.07.582 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY PROF. WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY Mov. 12, 1935 COPYRIGHT, 1904 AND 1907, BY L. L. WILLIAMS AND F. E. ROGERS. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON. MOORE'S COM. AR. W. P. 29 PREFACE A commercial arithmetic should be comprehensive in its scope, *but should contain no complicated or obsolete subjects. It should furnish abundant material for drills in modern business problems, and, by natural and progressive steps in the methods of developing the subjects presented, should cultivate in the student those qualities of accuracy, rapidity, and self-reliance that will be so valuable to him later. With these objects in mind this book has been written. It is not intended for beginners, but for students pursuing a commercial course in business and secondary schools. While it may be assumed that these students have previously completed a more elementary arithmetic, yet experience has demonstrated that it is usually necessary for them to review the fundamental operations, and become familiar with the short methods which are applicable to simple calculations, before they can do effective work in commercial arithmetic. The underlying principles of arithmetic are, therefore, briefly reviewed, and many practical counting-room methods having a direct bearing upon them are carefully illustrated and explained. Great care has been taken to make the methods of developing all the principles natural and businesslike. All of the operations given in connection with the illustrative problems are accompanied with solutions which enable the student to understand the principles involved. The student is taught to understand a process before he is taught to summarize it in a rule. Solutions and rules are omitted in all cases where it is thought the student can prepare them without assistance. The few rules given in the book all follow solutions, and are intended to aid the student to produce intelligent results. In no case are they intended to be committed to memory. Mental work has received due emphasis throughout the book. Oral exercises of a thoroughly practical nature accompany every subject, and in many cases methods of computation are introduced and developed through a series of oral drills. An attempt has been made to make the treatment of the whole subject highly educative, but methods and topics distinctively utilitarian in their value have received due attention. Arithmetical puzzles and improbable conditions have been studiously avoided, and a feature is made of concrete business problems from the outset. Particular attention has been devoted to the subject of Addition. The group method is carefully developed through a series of oral and written drills. The exercises on tabulation and all the exercises calling for vertical and horizontal additions are especially valuable. Only small common fractions are introduced; they are the only ones used in ordinary business. In connection with this subject special care has been devoted to the topics Quantity, Price, and Cost, and Bills and Accounts. The methods developed and the forms illustrated in this part of the book are especially helpful and practical. In the chapter on Denominate Numbers a feature is made of the subject Practical Measurements. In the preparation of this portion of the book the author consulted mechanics, contractors, and business men, thoroughly versed in their several departments, in order to get at current, practical usages. In the chapter on Percentage and its Applications, the subjects Commercial Discounts, Interest, Bank Discount, and Customhouse Business have been especially emphasized because they are so closely connected with modern business transactions. In the chapter on Sharing, the subject Partnership has been thoroughly covered. All the problems given in this work are treated from the accountant's standpoint, and are entirely free from all unusual conditions. In the preparation of all the subjects, business men have been consulted freely. In connection with many of the subjects a great deal of valuable information is given. Numerous business forms are also introduced, and made the basis of a series of problems. Some of the problems given have been taken from the Williams and Rogers's Commercial Arithmetic, by Oscar F. Williams; but the majority of them are new. Acknowledgment is due to Professor C. D. Clarkson of the Department of Commerce in Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, for valuable assistance in perfecting the volume. |