Mathematical Treasure: Thomas Simpson’s Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks

Author(s):

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

Despite his variety of duties and responsibilities (such as the Ladies’ Diary), Thomas Simpson (1710–1761) saw himself mainly as a teacher of mathematics. In 1752 he published Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks, in which he considered some of the important aspects of problem solving in the time period.

Title page of Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

Some sample problem sets from the text:

First page from Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

Page 40 from Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

The introduction to Simpson’s discussion of fluxions:

Page 233 from Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

Page 234 from Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

Page 235 from Thomas Simpson's 1752 Select Exercises for Young Proficients in Mathematicks.

A full digitization of its copy is available from the Wellcome Library.

A new edition was issued 40 years later, in 1792, by another prolific British textbook author, Charles Hutton. Hutton added a biography of Simpson but otherwise largely reprinted the original book intact. A notable feature of the copy shown below is that it was owned by Samuel Webber (1759–1810), Harvard College Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Webber’s 1801 compendium textbook may also be viewed in Mathematical Treasures.

Title page for 1792 edition of Thomas Simpson's Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

The book’s preface is Simpson’s original 1752 preface.

First page of preface for Thomas Simpson's Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

Second page of preface for Thomas Simpson's Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

Third page of preface for Thomas Simpson's Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

Fourth page of preface for Thomas Simpson's Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

Hutton’s biography includes Simpson’s horoscope.

Page ii of Hutton's life of Thomas Simpson in Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks.

A full digitization of this copy, now owned by the University of Michigan, is available from GoogleBooks.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Thomas Simpson’s Select Exercises for Young Proficients in the Mathematicks," Convergence (July 2023)

Convergence

Tags:

History of Mathematics