ELEMENTS OF LAND SURVEYING. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. OF ALGEBRAIC NOTATION, &c. WRITERS on mathematical subjects have long been aware of the convenience of Algebraic symbols, even in works which are not wholly confined to that species of arithmetic. The brevity of the notation, the perspicuity of the arrangements, and the simplicity of the characters, enable the Algebraist to form a true picture of a theorem or problem; and thereby to comprehend, in the clearest manner, the whole of any mathematical proposition. For the better understanding of the following pages and of other mathematical works, it is deemed useful to explain Algebraic Notation, and a few of the first principles of that abstract species of arithmetic. The characters employed in Algebra, in lieu of figures, are the letters of the alphabet; the former of which (as a, b, c, &c.) are arbitrarily used to express any quantities or numbers which are known or given; and the latter (as x, y, z,) usually denote such quan B |