Excerpt from Commercial Algebra, Vol. 1 This book is intended for use in the first year of a commercial high school. It lays the foundation for that work in mathematics without which it is impossible for a student to attain the highest success in the technique of commerce. A man may have a genius for organization, he may employ others to do his mathematical work for him, and he may advance through a combination of circumstances, but if he is to master the technique of commercial life he must be able to think in algebra. There is not to-day a single line of commercial work in which the formula is not, or may not be, profitably used; and without a knowledge of the formula, of its value, and of its manipulation by the aid of the equation, a man cannot be a real master of any great commercial field. This knowledge of the formula is, however, no more vital than a knowledge of other parts of algebra, as, for example, the graph in its varied forms. Here is one of the several tools of mathematics which every business man needs and actually uses in his everyday business life. Algebra, then, may be said to be vital to successful training for commercial life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.