A New Treatise of Algebra by Richard Sault (d. 1702). Not much is known about Sault, except that he ran a mathematical school in London in the 1690s near the Royal Exchange and was an editor of and contributor to the Athenian Mercury, a literary journal that was published between 1690 and 1697. TheTreatise of Algebra was published as an appendix to William Leybourne's Pleasure with Profit, and included a chapter by Joseph Raphson on converging series.
This image is page 19. Notice that Sault describes in some detail, with an example, how to convert a word problem into algebraic notation. Note that he generalizes his problem by using arbitrary constants, instead of just the given numbers.
Brilliant find. Note the order.
ReplyDeleteMethod.
Example.
Exercise.
All textbooks should follow this pattern.