Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ... History of the Teaching of Elementary Geometry 139 1. The balance between the logical and the practical.--Logical geometry is generally associated with the theoretic. The history of the teaching of geometry points this out. Logic did not enter the practical work of the Egyptians, while the Greeks on the other hand did not admit practice in the theory. In later times, we have seen that practice has entered into the school work, but at most it has followed the theory, not served as an introduction to it. Thus logic has been disassociated from practice. When theory, however, is approached inductively, opportunities are offered for practical logical work. We are so accustomed to use in geometry the term logic for deductive logic that we have almost forgotten that inductive logic has a place in teaching. From a series of concrete experiences, the pupil may be led, after the inductive method, to formulate some general principle. And the work can be made practical by employing the scale, the protractor, the compasses, and instruments for field work, not to mention the related numerical exercises. This inductive work forms a fitting propaedeutic to the ordinary high school course in geometry, and finds a fitting analogy in the history of geometry where the practical stage preceded the logical. Even after deductive geometry is begun, the inductive treatment could well be continued as a method of discovery. Practical field problems serve to point out the existence of certain theorems, which should then be logically proved. We thus see the need of a continual co-operation between theory and practice. The latter serves to verify the former and many times to check erroneous conclusions. This is seen in the practice of drawing accurate figures. Such a...
