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To JOHN JAY, Esq.

Principal of the Commercial Institution,

WOODFORD.

THERE is no person to whom I can with greater propriety inscribe this Work, than to you, Sir. The distinguished situation you have held in the commercial world, both in this Country and on the Continent, combined with the liberal course of mercantile instruction, to which you have since devoted your time and abilities, eminently qualify you to appreciate the claims of such a production to the patronage of the friends of the useful sciences, and to give a sanction to its object, that of contributing to the diffusion of a correct knowledge of that branch of science, to the cultivation and improvement of which your attention is at present so laudably and successfully devoted.

The utility of the institution established by you, and conducted under your auspices, in which a regular and enlightened system of edu

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cation is carried on, has been widely and deservedly acknowledged; indeed it is but justice to say, that the most solid advantages to the community may naturally be expected to arise from an Institution so conducted, where practice is combined with theory, and science with the principles of trade.

A treatise on the same extended plan, and embracing, in some degree, the same object, it is humbly deemed, cannot but be useful to the Public. That this Work, therefore, which has been compiled with this view and benefited by your suggestions, may be found deserving of your approbation, and that of the Public, is the earnest desire of

YOUR OBLIGED SERVANT,

G. G. CAREY.

In a commercial country like this, it is needless to enlarge on the utility and necessity of arithmetical knowledge. What has been found to be most requisite and desirable, is a complete system of that most useful branch of science; for, though there is no want of books on Arithmetic, the generality of these works are found extremely deficient in the course of instruction necessary for the commercial world.

The greater number of school books on this subject contain merely a few practical rules for performing some of the most common calculations that occur in conducting the affairs of a small business. Neither the theory of these rules, the contractions that may be introduced, nor a sufficient variety of exercises are given.

A few there are, that contain a great variety of rules, and even some of the contracted methods of performing the exercises; but they neither explain the rules, nor show how the contractions are obtained, and contain a set of exercises but little fitted for giving the student a knowledge of calculations connected with the counting-house.

Some of the best treatises on Arithmetic cannot be procured separately, being connected with other matter in the same volume, which renders them inconvenient for use, and too expensive for common text books; others, though very well calculated for teaching beginners the rudiments of the science, are so limited in size, that it is impossible

they can give either variety of rules or examples; and what may be strictly termed Commercial Arithmetic is scarcely introduced at all.

With the view of supplying the deficiencies so generally felt, in this respect, and of laying before the commercial student a comprehensive and systematic course of instruction, in all the probable cases of commercial calculation, and as they really take place in business, the present volume has been compiled.

In executing this work, it has appeared peculiarly necessary to elucidate the complex subjects of the Stocks, Marine Insurance, Exchanges, and Annuities, with other topics highly important to a great part of the population of this country, but scarcely noticed in, or entirely excluded from, works expressly intended for the instruction of those to whom such information is most necessary. The care taken to effect this, it is presumed, will be apparent from the manner in which the various subjects are treated.

As Logarithms are of so much use in abridging the labour of calculation, in many cases, particularly in Arbitration of Exchange, Compound Interest, and Annuities, an extensive and correct table of these is added to the volume.

It will be observed that the arrangement here adopted is different from that employed in any other work; the first part being entirely devoted to the consideration of Arithmetic simply as the science of numbers, and may be termed the theoretical part; the second, embracing a particular and ample view of mercantile transactions, and the business which naturally comes within the denomination of

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