Word Problems

Word problems were a central feature of early American math textbooks. These word problems--whether they are relatively simple ones about addition or division, or complex ones about currency and weight exchanges--do considerably more than just teach students the fundamentals of calculation.

As the examples below suggest, every word problem is also an exercise in imagination that includes political, cultural, economic, and geographical components. And the word problems in some math textbooks (like Michael Walsh's) exposed readers to goods and currencies from the farthest reaches of the globe.

"admit a Nobleman hath 30,000 l. per annum, what is his daily Income?"

"How many Inhabitants are there in the United States?"

"What will 3894 bottles of wine come to, at 26 stivers per bottle?"

"What is the amount of 308 chests of bohea tea, weighing neat 101965 lb. at 15 tales per picul?"

"What will 1897 bags of sugar amount to, weighing neat 1631 piculs 1 arobe 17 1/2 lb. at 6 dollars per arobe?"

"How much is the neat proceeds of 4 silver watches, at 35 tales each, deducting the duty of 35 per cent.?"

The first examples ask students to imagine the financial life of a nobleman or the growing size and power of the relatively new United States.

The later examples, by contrast, place students in an astonishingly global world of goods, in which they have to imagine themselves trading wine in Batavia, tea in China, sugar in Manila, or silver watches in Japan.