INTELLECTUAL ARITHMETIC, UPON THE INDUCTIVÉ METHOD OF Enstruction. BY WARREN COLBURN, A. M. STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRE HALLOWELL, ME.: GLAZIER, MASTERS, & SMITH. BOSTON : HILLIARD, GRAY, & CO 1836. FducT 118.44.303 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk's Office. BE it remembered, that on the twenty-third day of March, A. D. 1826, In the fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Cummings, Hilliard, and Company, of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Intellectual Arithmetic, upon the Inductive Method of Instruction. By Warren Colburn, A. M." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein inentioned:" and also to an act, entitled, " An Act, supplementary to an act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical, and other prints." JOHN W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts Sir, RECOMMENDATIONS. Boston, 15 November, 1821. am I have made use of the Arithmetic and Tables, which you sometim since prepared, on the system of Pestalozzi; and have been much grat ified with the improved edition of it, which you have shown me. satisfied, from experiment, that it is the most effectual and interesting mode of teaching the science of numbers with which I am acquainted. Respectfully, Your obedient servant, Mr. Warren Colbury. HENRY COLMAN. Having been made acquainted with Mr. Colburn's treatise on Arithmetic, and having attended an examination of his scholars, who had been taught according to this system, I am well satisfied that it is the most easy, simple, and natural way of introducing young persons to the first principles in the science of utunbers. The method here proposed is the Frun of much study and reflection. The author has had considerable experience as a teacher, added to a strong interest in the subject, and a thorough knowledge not only of this but of many of the higher branches of mathematics. This little work is therefore earnestly recommended to the notice of those who are employed in this branch of early instruction, with the belief that it only requires a fair trial in order to be fully approv ad and adopted. J. FARRAR, Cambridge, Nov. 16 1821. 'rof Math. Harvard University. TARVARD COLLEGE LIBindf GIFT OF JULIUS R. WAKEFIELD MAY 4 1932 PREFACE. As soon as a child begins to use his senses, nature contin'ually presents to his eyes a variety of objects; and one of the first properties which he discovers, is the relation of number. He intuitively fixes upon unity as a measure, and from this ne forms the idea of more and less; which is the idea of quantity. The names of a few of the first numbers are usually learned very early; and children frequently learn to count as far as a hundred before they learn their letters. As soon as children have the idea of more and less, and the names of a few of the first numbers, they are able to make small calculations. And this we see them do every day about their playthings, and about the little affairs which they are called upon to attend to. The idea of more and less implies addition; hence they will often perform these operations without any previous instruction. If, for example, one child has three apoles, and another five, they will readily tell how many they both have; and how many one has more than the other. If a child be requested to bring three apples for each person in the room, he will calculate very readily how many to bring, if the number does not exceed those he has learnt. Again, if a child be requested to divide a number of apples among a certain number of persons, he will contrive a way to do it. and will tell how many each must have. The method which children take to do these things, though always correct, is not always the most expeditious. The fondness which children usually manifest for these exercises, and the facility with which they perform them, seem to indicate that the science of numbers, to a certain extent, should be among the first lessons taught to them.* To succeed in this, however, it is necessary rather to furnish occasions for them to exercise their own skill in performing examples, than to give them rules. They should be allowed to pursue their own method first, and then they should be made to observe and explain it; and, if it was not * See on this subject two essays, entitled Juvenile Studies, in the Prize Book of the Latin school, Nos. I. and II., published by Cummings & Hilliard, 1820 and 1821. |