Numerical Tables

In addition to word problems, math textbooks were filled with tables that provided quick and easy ways to calculate multiplication, decimals, square roots, exchange, powers, and more.

In nearly every case, tables provided a visual image of numbers ascending, often very quickly, as one scanned the chart from right to left and top to bottom. These visual images communicated the pleasures of accumulation and a vision of prospective future wealth.

Numeration Table from George Fisher

Multiplication Table from George Fisher

Table of Square Roots from George Fisher

Table of Decimal Parts from James Maginness

Table of Powers from Nicolas Pike

Table of Permutations from John Vinall

Mathematical textbooks and manuals also offered examples of common mercantile forms such as invoices or bookkeeping entries. This is an example of a bill of exchange from Michael Walsh's textbook. See the exhibit page on Eliza Houghton's manuscript notebook for another example of this kind of commercial form.

Both tables and word problems presented numbers as part of a universe of calculation and commerce that seemed stable, certain, and dependable--even though the transoceanic travel and trade that made a few merchants extraordinarily wealthy was incredibly risky and often resulted in loss, failure, and bankruptcy.

The world of numbers in math textbooks should be read alongside the world of numbers associated with the lottery which exposed the uncertainty of speculation submerged within the apparent certainty of calculation.