Book Description

Excerpt from Questions on the Principles of Arithmetic, Designed to Indicate an Outline of Study: To Incite Among Pupils a Spirit of Independent Inquiry; And Especially Fitted to Facilitate a Thorough System of Reviews; Adapted to Any Text-Books and to All Grades of Learners These Questions are offered to the intelligent Teachers of this country with the hope that they may serve as an essential help in teaching the important branch of Arithmetic. The plan of this book is in some respects new, and it is thought that the use of it will tend to promote a more thorough and successful method than would perhaps otherwise be attained. It is generally agreed that the subject of Arithmetic is apt to be taught too mechanically, too much by mere rote, - by "ciphering" from formulas rather than by an intelligent discussion of principles. Instead of directing the pupil "to cipher according to rule," he should rather be taught to perform examples by analysis, according to principles which ho has mastered, and whose wide application he has been led fully to understand. If one be well grounded in the principles of a science, he has constantly at his command the Key to all operations pertaining to it. He is then Master of the Situation. So in Arithmetic, it is more important that the pupil should know, and be able to tell, upon what principle any given operation depends, than that he should be able to solve, according to a set formula, which he does not understand. any number of similar examples whose answers are all before him. That he should spend months and years of his schooling m adding, multiplying, and dividing, simply as an exercise, is no less absurd than that'a mechanic should exercise with dumb-bells and clubs to perfect the muscles of his arm, before he shall touch the blacksmith's hammer or the carpenter's chisel. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.