PREFACE. IN offering the present work to public notice, the Author feels compelled to acknowledge the obligation under which he lies, for the assistance of several of his friends in the University. In particular, he takes the opportunity of publicly returning thanks to Mr. Stephenson, Fellow of St. John's College, for many valuable papers in Plane Trigonometry. In the chapter on Multiple Arcs, considerable extracts have been made from Poinsot's Sections Angulaires. The matter, however, has been modified, so as to be more easily understood by the beginner, and some of the proofs have been considerably simplified. An article on Trigonometry, in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, (written by Professor Airy,) contains many theorems of the greatest practical utility: the Author has been considerably assisted by the chapter on Geodetic Operations, in that article. Several errors of the press have been overlooked; but, as the Author was absent from Cambridge during the time of printing, he is happy to find that, from the attention of the Printer, they are neither so many, nor so important, as might have been expected. LIVERPOOL, 1st January, 1831. i |