Abstract
IN this text-book the, author first gives examples of plotting from physical and statistical data, and the graphing of simple functions of one and two variables. He then proceeds to the main purpose of the book, which is that of solving algebraical equations by the use of squared paper arid a few standard curves. Equations up to the fourth degree are fully dealt with, and, in order to facilitate the work, a method is cleverly developed in which the direct graph is replaced by two loci of a simpler nature, the intersections of which give the required roots. Thus a quadratic equation is solved by reading off the intersection of a standard parabola and a straight line; the same parabola is used for all quadratics, and it is only the scale and the position of the line which vary. Instead of the parabola, a rectangular hyperbola may be used. Cubics are dealt with by means of the curve y = x3 and a suitable straight line. Biquadratic equations are solved by the intersection of a circle and the standard parabola or standard hyperbola. In all cases it is shown how to find the imaginary or complex roots, if such exist.
Graphic Algebra.
By Dr. Arthur Schultze. Pp. viii+93. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1908.) Price 4s. 6d.
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Graphic Algebra . Nature 79, 35 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/079035b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/079035b0