Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

the extent, at least, of the Six Books, was published. From the manner of arranging the
Demonstrations, this edition has the advantages of the symbolical form, and it is at the
same time free from the manifold objections to which that form is open. The duodecimo
edition of this Work, comprising only the first Six Books of Euclid, with Deductions from
them, having been introduced at this Institution as a text book, now renders any other
Treatise on Plane Geometry unnecessary in our course of Mathematics."-Preahce to
Descriptive Geonetry, d'c. jbr the Use of the Royal Military Academy, by S. Hunter Christie,
M.A., oJ Trinity College, Cambridge, late Secretary of the Royal Society, 'c., Professor of
Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy, Wool'wich. (1847.)
" Mr. Potts, by the publication of his Edition of 'Euclid, with its most valuable notes
and problems, and the solutions and commentaries, has recalled the attention of
Englishmen to the subject:-first in his own and the Sister Universities, then in the public
schools, and, finally, in most Scholastic Establishments in the Country.-His Euclid is one
of our own text-books in the Royal Military Academy, and we find its arrangements and
additions exceedingly conducive to the acquisition of a thorough understanding of the
subject by the Gentlemen Cadets."-T. S. Davies, Professor of Mathemzatics in the Royal
Military Academy, Woolwich. (1848.)
" The Edition of the Elements of Euclid which Mr. Potts has published, is confessedly
the best which has yet appeared."-Jolhn Phillips Higman, M.A., F.R.S., late Fellow and
Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge. (1848.)
"Mr. Potts has lately published an Edition of Euclid's Elements of Geometry, which he
has illustrated with a collection of Examples. I consider that he has performed his task
with great care and judgment, and that the work seems to bid fair to possess a larger share
of popular favour than any edition of Euclid yet published." —R. Buston, B.D., Fellow and
Tutor of Emmanuel College. (1848.)
"I consider Mr. Potts' Edition of Euclid to be a most valuable addition to our Cambridge
Mathematical literature, and especially to the department of Geometry; and look to it as
a great help towards keeping up, and indeed reviving, the true spirit and feeling for
Geometry, which of late years had been too much neglected among us."-W. Williamson,
B.D., Fellow and Tutor of Clare College. (1848.)
" I believe there is a general opinion in this University that the Principles of Euclid
and Elementary Geometry cannot possibly be presented to the mind of a commencing
student in a better form, nor be accompanied by a more judicious selection of problems,
with hints for their solution, than occurs in the pages of Mr. Potts' publications. By
combining symmetry of arrangement with simplicity of language, and by restoring the
syllogism to its plain and simple form, so as to make an introduction to Geometry serve at
the same time as an exercise in logic (an advantage which has been quite lost sight of in
many of the abbreviated editions with which this University had previously been deluged),
I consider that Mr. Potts has done good service to the cause of education."-J. Power,
M.A., Fellow oJ Clare College, and University Librarian. (1848.)
"Mr. Potts has maintained the text of Simson, and secured the very spirit of Euclid's
Geometry, by means which are simply mechanical. It consists in printing the syllogism
in a separate paragraph, and the members of it in separate subdivisions, each, for the most
part, occupying a single line. The divisions of a proposition are therefore seen at once
without requiring an instant's thought. Were this the only advantage of Mr. Potts'
Edition, the great convenience which it affords in tuition would give it a claim to become
the Geometrical text-book of England. This, however, is not its only merit."-PhilosoIphical
Magazine, January, 1848.
"If we may judge from the solutions we have sketched of a few of them [the Geometrical Exercises], we should be led to consider them -admirably adapted to improve
the taste as well as the skill of the Student. As a series of judicious exercises, indeed,
we do not think there exists one at all comparable to it in our language-viewed either
in reference to the student or teacher.-lMechanics' Magazine, No. 1175.
"The 'Hints' are not to be understood as propositions worked out at length, in the
manner of Bland's Problems, or like those worthless things called 'Keys,' as generally
'forged and filed,'-mere books for the dull and the lazy. In some cases references only
are made to the Propositions on which a solution depends; in others, we have a step ol
two of the process indicated; in one case the analysis is briefly given to find the construe
tion or demonstration; in another case the reverse of this. Occasionally, though seldomn
the entire process is given as a model; but most commonly, just so much is suggested at
will enable a student of average ability to complete the whole solution-in short, just so
much (and no more) assistance is afforded as would, and must be, afforded by a tutor to
his pupil. Mr. Potts appears to us to have hit the 'golden mean' of Geometrical tutorship."-Mechanics' Mragazine, No. 1270.
-" We can most conscientiously recommend it [The School Edition] to our own younger
readers, as the best edition of the best book on Geometry with which we are acquainted."-.Aechaics' Magazine, No. 1227.
LONDON: LONGMANS & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW.