Redirected Arithmetic 161 



Similar remarks may be made of arithmetic. 

 The principles of number are everywhere the 

 same ; but there is no reason why practice 

 problems should not have local application. 

 In my day, at least, a good part of the prac- 

 tice problems were mere numerical puzzles. 

 I fancy that even at the present time the old 

 people are interested in the problems that the 

 child takes home merely because the child is 

 in a fix and his predicament appeals to their 

 sympathies. When, however, the child takes 

 home a problem that has application to the 

 daily life, there is a different attitude on the 

 part of the parents, not only to the problem, 

 but to the school that gave the problem. A 

 good part of agricultural practice can be ex- 

 pressed in mathematical form. How to meas- 

 ure land, how to figure the cost of operation, 

 how to compound a ration or a spray mix- 

 ture, how much it costs to fight bugs in the 

 potato field, the mathematics of rainfall and 

 utilization of water by plants these, and a 

 thousand other problems that are personal and 

 sensible, could be made the means of so redi- 

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