Hopkins & Underwood’s New Arithmetic

Mental Arithmetic, republished by The Macmillan Company in 1913 (first published in 1908), was gifted to my mom 30 years ago by a fellow co-worker and educator. It is one in a series that focus on primary methods of math computation. The book’s authors—John W. Hopkins, Superintendent of Galveston Schools and P. H. Underwood, a teacher of mathematics at Galveston’s Ball High School—include a statement of intent in the preface. The purpose of this collection of arithmetic problems, to be completed mentally, “is to enable pupils to perform the simple computations which occur daily in business life, to introduce them to the art of reasoning, and to train them to think on their feet.”

The pages contain a beautiful and interesting arrangement of numbers and words. One of the previous owners has inserted solutions to equations, one-by-one, filling margins and gutters on many pages. At times where there was a lack of space, directional arrows swirl about to point to corresponding answers. It’s fun to see books come to life in this way.

— Carissa