168 AN ESSAY ON THE ROOTS OF INTEGERS, &c, 



obscure ; and I therefore hope the nature of the subject, which is both curi- 

 ous in itself, and affords a complete estimate of the state of Arithmetic 

 among the Arabians, will be a sufficient justification of my prolixity. 



78). I must conclude this Essay as my former, with an acknow- 

 ledgement of my obligations to my very intelligent friend Dewan Kanh 

 Jee, of Patna ; by him I was furnished with the extract of the Ayoun-ul- 

 Hisab. His Treatise of Arithmetic formerly mentioned, * and his oral 

 explanation, enabled me to comprehend the obscure and studied brevity of 

 the Arabian Author ; and from the same sources I derived those observa- 

 tions on the fractional part of the Root which form the basis of the con- 

 cluding paragraphs of the present Essay. 



* See Essay on the Binomial Theorem, Vol. XIII. of the Researches, p. 466. 



