Publisher's Synopsis
From the PREFACE.
An endeavour has been made to provide in this work a fairly complete course of instruction in practical geometry for technical students. The field covered is a very wide one, but by adopting a concise style and by endeavouring to make the illustrations "talk" the work has been kept of reasonable size.
A special feature has been made of the illustrations. These are very numerous, and they have been carefully planned so that even the most complicated of them should be distinct and clearly show the constructions used, notwithstanding that most of them are comparatively small. Pictorial projections have been freely used in dealing with solid geometry, and these in many cases are just as useful as actual models in illustrating the relative positions of points, lines, and planes in space. Nevertheless teachers are recommended to provide models for class use in teaching solid geometry, and the student should also make small cardboard models for himself in studying many of the problems, especially in the earlier stages of his work.
The student cannot hope to master the subject of practical geometry unless he works on the drawing board a large number of examples. Hence, another special feature of this work is the large collection of exercises. These exercises have been prepared and selected with great care, and it will be found that they not only provide ample practice for the student but in many cases they amplify the text. About ninety per cent. of the exercises are original and the remainder have been selected from the examination papers of the Board of Education. To economize space, many of the diagrams for the exercises have been placed on a squared ground. It should scarcely be necessary to state that in reproducing these diagrams the squared ground need not be drawn, but by counting the squares the various points and lines may be plotted from two axes at right angles to one another.
