Nappanee High School - Napanet Yearbook (Nappanee, IN)

Page 20 text:

cipline of thought power and trains the mind to the habit of reasoning. All the great geniuses of the realm of science as far as is known had tine mathematical abilities. So valuable is geometry as a discipline that many lawyers and ministers review their geometry every year in order to keep the mind drilled to logical habits of thinking. It deals with facts and truths and therefore lias a tendency to make one truthful. Without geometry the science of surveying and engineering could have had no existence. And the mathematical skill that reared the pyramids or arched the dome of St. Peter’s cathedral would have been impossible. In geometry by picturing the parts of the figure upon which we reason and creating diagrams to discover new relations, the imagination is demanded and thus greatly developed. Of course imagination is usually considered unvaluable but what great invention is there that did not require imagination to picture the plan and form of the machine before it was begun to be built. The skilled architect sees the building with its improvements before its construction is begun. What is this but imagination? After having viewed and studied the three elementary branches of mathematics we easily agree that its value is inestimable. There is probably no single study pursued in the schools which develops the mind in so many ways. It gives culture to perception and memory and requires the most complete mental concentration, thus affording the highest culture to attention. Dealing with the relationsof quantity it gives constant exercise to the judgment and trains it to the closest discrimination of similarity and difference. In fact there is no one science that brings so large a number of the faculties of the mind into so constant and forcible an activity and especially those faculties which give strength and dignity to the intellect. 18

Page 19 text:

®V Naturr attft Halit? nf iflatljmattrH By CLAYTON BLESSING ATTIEM A TICS arose out of necessity: it was not complete when it began: nor was it a well spun theory in the minds of our forefathers. Thales, Heraclitus and Pythagoras were less versed in mathematics than men of the 20th century. These men were in the dark and groping, stretching and feeling their way from darkness to light while we today have the heritage of all their mistakes and advances. As necessity is the mother of invention, so to a very large extent it is the mother of mathematics. For an example of this let us look at Babylon. Through her continual shifting of territory as the results of war and the continual readjustment of boundary lines she became the fertile soil of mathematics. Look also at her sister country Egypt who under like conditions added to the development of mathematics. The term mathematics is derived from the Latin, (mathematica),or the Greek,(mathematik), learning. As th6 form of the word indicates it is not a single branch but a group of several branches. Many people consider it a dry, uninteresting subject, probably on account of its not being easily comprehended or the language used being too concise. The three elementary branches of mathematics are Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. As the foundation is to a house so these are to the higher branches of mathematics. Arithmetic is tlie science of numbers and the art of computing with them. It is one of the purest products of human thought. It was aided in its growth by the rarest minds of antiquity and enriched by the thought of the profoundest thinkers. Like geometry it embraces ideas and truths. These ideas give rise to detinitions and the truths are expressed in axioms and theorems. It may be divided into two divisions, mental and written. Mental arithmetic has become one of the most popular studies of the public schools, nearly everybody uses it to a greater or less extent. Especially do you find this the case with those who received their education in the public schools of twenty-five or thirty years ago. When a farmer sells or buys anything of small account the calculation is made mentally, for he seldom carries pencil and paper. It certainly is a great accomplishment to be able to calculate correctly without pencil and paper as it creates quickness of perception, keenness of insight and an intellectual power and grasp that can be acquired by no other study. Written arithmetic is closely allied to mental arid is probably used just as much. Merchants use it almost altogether because they have too much calculation or too many accounts. It would be impossible for them to remember all the calculations and accounts, while if they have it written in a book this serves as their memory. It is said that numbers never lie, which is undoubtedly true, so they have this one branch of mathematics, namely, written arithmetic, to rely on as the key to all their business transactions. It is nearly indispensable to all men of business. Algebra is that branch of mathematics that investigates quantity by means of general characters called symbols. The term originated among the Arabs and comes from (al-gabr), a reduction of parts to a whole. In its elements it is similar to arithmetic having addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions as well as many other operations like those in arithmetic. It had its origin in arithmetic and its fundamental ideas and operations are arithmetical: but from it many ideas and processes arise which have no meaning in arithmetic, as: negative and imaginary quantities, the solution of higher equations, etc. The combination of algebraic symbols leads to expressions called formulas, in which the operations are indicated rather than performed. These formulas often express a general truth corresponding to a theorem, which arithmetic can verify in particular cases as: the quantity a plus b multiplied by the quantity a minus b equals the quantity a square minus b square. Not until one has had training in algebra can he fully realize the great benefit he received in simplifying and making clear some of the problems in arithmetic and even in practical life which are generally termed “catchy.” The term geometry is derived from (ge), the earth and (metron) a measure and means literally a measuring of the earth. But as we study it we do not think of its ever having simply this meaning. It begins with the primary ideas of space and the self-evident truths arising from them, and from these as a basis arises to the higher truth by a process of reasoning. The self-evident truths or axioms give some of the truths with which we start and also the laws which guide us in the reasoning process. From these as a basis we trace our way, step by step, to the loftiest and most beautiful truth of science. It ranks among the first of all studies for the dis- 17

Page 21 text:

BESSIE BEGHTEL Bessie was born February 4, 1888, at Ke-wanee, Ind. She started in school at Warsaw, Ind., but her parents moved to Nappanee when she was nine years old and she commenced her education here in the third room and has continued as a member of the class of 11)07. She is a loyal and good hearted member and has always helped in the ventures of the class. She is to be praised, having finished her education under difficulties, and we predict a great future for her.