Practical Mathematics, Vol. 1
Instruction Paper (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Practical Mathematics, Vol. 1: Instruction Paper

No one who is at all acquainted with the demands of the Engineering profession will deny the need of a good foundation in elementary mathematics any more than he will deny the need of a solid underpinning on which to rest the walls of a big business block.

The simplest problems of the contractor and workman, such as the number of feet of lumber required for a house, the number of cubic yards of excavation for a ditch or cellar, the proper understanding of plans and specifications, and the laying off of measurements according to these plans, all require a knowledge of this important subject. The size of a concrete retaining wall, the dimensions of a girder for a steel structure, the amount of iron in the field of a dynamo, or the capacity of the cylinders of an engine, is certainly not left to the arbitrary judgment of a foreman but is carefully worked out by mathematics and by a knowledge of the properties of the materials used.

Mathematics might be likened to a kit of tools which the workman carries; the master workman carries more than the apprentice and the more tools each man has in his kit and knows how to use, the more things he can do and the greater is his earning power. Each mathematical process is a tool to be used as the occasion demands. Some of them are used in every problem which comes up, others less frequently, but the more advanced the work the greater the number of tools required.

It is with this keen demand in mind, therefore, that we are requiring of each student at the outset of his course this work or its equivalent in Practical Mathematics. We want him to fill his kit with enough tools to meet the steady demands of the work ahead of him, and we feel sure that, once provided with this equipment, his progress will be assured.

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