ARITHMETIC SECOND BOOK BY EDWIN P. SEAVER, A.M., LL.B. SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, BOSTON AND GEORGE A. WALTON, A.M. AGENT OF MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF EDUCATION; AUTHOR OF NEW YORK AND CHICAGO EducT 118,95.76313K2 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF GEORGE ARTHUR PLIMPTON COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY SHELDON AND COMPANY. TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & Co., NORWOOD, MASS. PREFACE. THIS book is not merely a revised edition of the Franklin Written Arithmetic published by the authors seventeen years ago. In its general plan and method, it preserves all the essential characteristics of that favorably known and widely used text-book, but it has been constructed out of new material. All the illustrations are fresh, nearly all the examples are new, and the text has been rewritten throughout. The principles of arithmetic do not change, neither do the essential elements of good teaching change, but there is infinite room for variety in the application of principles and in the exemplification of method. In these respects the authors trust that their new book may be found fully up with the times. The method of the book is thoroughly inductive. Every new topic is introduced, as it should be in good teaching, by easy oral questions designed to bring the subject matter clearly before the learner's mind. Then follow illustrative examples, definitions, principles and rules in true inductive order. The number of examples provided for practice and drill is unusually large, particularly in the earlier half of the book. There appears to be a demand for an abundance of such material, which this book aims to satisfy. But the authors are very far from recommending that all the examples under one topic should be worked before a pupil or a class of pupils is permitted to take up the next topic. Opinions may differ as to whether topics like taxes, insurance, foreign exchange, stocks and bonds, equation of payments, and average of accounts should be included in the course of study for common schools, but there seems to be no doubt that such topics should be included in a book that aims at ordinary completeness. In this book the treatment of the topics mentioned is unusually simple and practical, the illustrations being not the old-fashioned imaginary transactions, but the actual ones occurring daily in the course of mercantile business. By means of them a considerable amount of accurate and useful information is conveyed. 3 |