The Earliest Arithmetics in English

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In The Crafte of Nombrynge, final “n” was sometimes written with an extra curl. It has been rendered as ɳ for visual effect; the character is not intended to convey phonetic information. In the same selection, the numeral “0” was sometimes printed as Greek φ (phi); this has been retained for the e-text. Double “l” with a line is shown as łł. The first few occurrences of “d” (for “pence”) were printed with a decorative curl. The letter is shown with the same “d’” used in the remainder of the text.

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Individual letters were italicized to show expanded abbreviations; these are shown in br{ac}es. Other italicized words are shown conventionally with lines, boldface with +marks+. When a footnote called for added text, the addition is shown in the body text with [[double brackets]].

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The Earliest Arithmetics in English

Early English Text Society.

Extra Series, No. CXVIII.

1922 (for 1916).

THE EARLIEST ARITHMETICS IN ENGLISH

Edited With Introduction

by

ROBERT STEELE

London: Published for the Early English Text Society By Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, Amen Corner, E.C. 4. 1922.

[Titles (list added by transcriber):

The Crafte of Nombrynge The Art of Nombryng Accomptynge by Counters The arte of nombrynge by the hande APP. I. A Treatise on the Numeration of Algorism APP. II. Carmen de Algorismo]

INTRODUCTION

The number of English arithmetics before the sixteenth century is very small. This is hardly to be wondered at, as no one requiring to use even the simplest operations of the art up to the middle of the fifteenth century was likely to be ignorant of Latin, in which language there were several treatises in a considerable number of manuscripts, as shown by the quantity of them still in existence. Until modern commerce was fairly well established, few persons required more arithmetic than addition and subtraction, and even in the thirteenth century, scientific treatises addressed to advanced students contemplated the likelihood of their not being able to do simple division. On the other hand, the study of astronomy necessitated, from its earliest days as a science, considerable skill and accuracy in computation, not only in the calculation of astronomical tables but in their use, a knowledge of which latter was fairly common from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

The arithmetics in English known to me are:--

(1) Bodl. 790 G. VII. (2653) f. 146-154 (15th c.) inc. “Of angrym ther be IX figures in numbray . . .” A mere unfinished fragment, only getting as far as Duplation.