II. 



AN ESSAY 



ON 



THE EXTRACTION OF THE ROOTS OF INTEGERS, 

 AS PRACTISED BY THE ARABS. 



By JOHN TYTLER. 



If any integer value greater than unity be assigned to the Symbol 10, and 

 the letters a, b, c, d, &c. be each some integer less than 10 so determined, 

 and n be also some integer, then, as is well known, all finite integers, and 

 some fractions, may be expressed by a'series of this form — ■ 



n n — 1 n — 2 n — 3 



a-10 + 6-10 -j- c-10 -j- d'10 &c. 



(2.) The value generally assigned to 10 for this purpose, is the num- 

 ber of the human fingers, the integers a, b, c, d, &c. are called Digits ; and 

 fractions expressible by this series, are called Decimal Fractions 



(3.) Now the problem which the art of Arithmetic properly so called, 



proposes to resolve is this, having A and B, two numbers expressed by 



p 



