1796.] | 
are fo obftinate that they would not be- 
lieve you. , ; 
You, fir, however, are on my fide, 
and in you I place the utmoft confidence. 
You have brought forward authority, 
- which cannot be contradicted. Profeflor 
Waring, of the Univerfity of Cambridge, 
who has written more upon nothing than 
any man in Europe, has, you tell us, 
proved, that nothing is equal to four.— 
Hear this then, ye fneerérs, who laugh 
at me, becaufe I have faid, in the utmoft 
fimplicity of my heart, that nothing may 
juft as eafily be equal to two hundred or 
two thoufand, as to two or four. ‘The 
fubjeét however, fir, deferves farther in- 
veftigation, and I fhall content myfelf 
only with placing: the truth in fo ftrong 
a light, that no.one hereafter, can labour 
under a miftake. 
rp e+ 3 + ps 
aes OS 
2) 
I—/7 
a ie ae Soha PS ero 
Ile= 
= eee 
ISP Srp ph +6 — 4 
I—/z 
By the firft’ of thefe equations it is 
ptoved that when p =1, five is equal to 
nothing: by the fecond, on the fame. 
grounds, that fix is equal to nothing : by. 
the third, that feven is equal to nothing : 
and by the laft, that nothing may be 
equel to any number whatfoever, for x 
may be made any number you pleafe—— 
Thus it is evident, that the powers of 
nothing are, asl have ftated, of no fmall: 
importance ; and’ it muft be upon the 
fame principles, you may be fure; that po- 
liticians are juftified m faying, that our 
‘national debt is nothing at all; for what 
is the national debt ? anumber of pounds ! 
and what is a number of pounds? no- 
thing! hee : 
You have very properly hinted, that 
Mr. Search would do well to. exa- 
mine a little more into the nature’ of 
imaginary quantities, and that Ludiam, : 
Maclaurin, and Saunderfon, will be of ~ 
great ufé to him-upon this occafion.. But 
if the works of: thefe fubtle matheina- © 
ticians fhould not be at hand, give me 
|eave to récommend one which cannot 
Montuiy Mae, No. VY. 
Mathematical Correfpondence. 
393 
fail of producing conviction. Let him 
read the Arabian Nights Entertainments, 
or perhaps he may, from his own experi- 
ence, be better qualified to underftand 
the doétrine. 
led to confider what quantity 1s.—For 
example, what is a dinner? It is either. ~ 
real or imaginary. Yetterday I had a 
real dinner, to-day I am likely to have » 
an imaginary dinner. What does the 
real dinner do? It produces certain fen- 
{ations in the ftomach. What does the 
imaginary dinner do? It alfo produces 
certain fenfatiogs in the ftomach. ‘The 
latter I feel at prefent, and I can affure- 
you, fir, that men may talk as they 
pleafe about real dinners and real quan- 
tities, but I confefs fairly to you, that 
the imaginary dinner produces oftentimes 
prodigiouily greater effects with me than 
the real one. ‘Thus we readinthe Ara- 
bian Nights, that the gueft of the Bar- 
mecide abfolutely got drunk at the ima-° 
ginary dinner which was fet upon the 
table, and was f6 intoxicated, that the 
Barmecide himfelf felt the effeéts of His 
temporary madnefs. On this argument 
I leave -you to dwell, to puth it home to. 
the feelings of Mr. Search, for I am 
thoroughly perfuaded that there is the, 
fame difference between —a, —4, —x, 
VJ —4, /—b, f/—a, and.a;b, #; 4/a, 
A/ 5, 4/3 as between a real and an ima- 
ginary ‘dinner. 
- You feem to blame me for the fee’ 
rity which I would exercife upon ma- 
thematical heretics, and fee do you en- 
At this very moment | am — 
quire into the utility of the punifhment.’ - 
This is too wide a field for the prefent 
letter.. Let it fufhce, however, that if 
we get a man fufpended upon the nega- 
tive fign of the laft term but one of dn 
infinite feries, we fhall convince every 
fceptic, that an infinite feries may be. 
fammmoned, and, of courfe, that the-du- 
ration of an infinite number of years may . 
be afcertained ; and fo folid a determina- 
tion of thefe two parts will be highly 
amufing to all adepts in mathematics, as 
well as to him, who is your’s, 
‘Refpedtfully, &e. 
: yew 
No Conjurer, 
ANSWERS 
