The Teaching of Geometry Part 6

The answer is apparent to any teacher: It is certainly justifiable to arouse the pupil's interest in his subject, and to call his attention to the fact that geometric design plays an important part in art; but we must see to it that our efforts accomplish this purpose. To make a course in geometry one on oilcloth design would be absurd, and nothing more unprofitable or depressing could be imagined in connection with this subject. Of course no one would advocate such an extreme, but it sometimes seems as if we are getting painfully near it in certain schools.

A pupil has a pa.s.sing interest in geometric design. He should learn to use the instruments of geometry, and he learns this most easily by drawing a few such patterns. But to keep him week after week on questions relating to such designs of however great variety, and especially to keep him upon designs relating to only one or two types, is neither sound educational policy nor even common sense. That this enthusiastic teacher or that one succeeds by such a plan is of no significance; it is the enthusiasm that succeeds, not the plan.

The experience of the world is that pupils of geometry like to use the subject practically, but that they are more interested in the pure theory than in any fict.i.tious applications, and this is why pure geometry has endured, while the great ma.s.s of applied geometry that was brought forward some three hundred years ago has long since been forgotten. The question of the real applications of the subject is considered in subsequent chapters.

In Chapter VI we considered the question of the number of regular propositions to be expected in the text, and we have just considered the nature of the exercises which should follow those propositions. It is well to turn our attention next to the nature of the proofs of the basal theorems. Shall they appear in full? Shall they be merely suggested demonstrations? Shall they be only a series of questions that lead to the proof? Shall the proofs be omitted entirely? Or shall there be some combination of these plans?

The natural temptation in the nervous atmosphere of America is to listen to the voice of the mob and to proceed at once to lynch Euclid and every one who stands for that for which the "Elements" has stood these two thousand years. This is what some who wish to be considered as educators tend to do; in the language of the mob, to "smash things"; to call reactionary that which does not conform to their ephemeral views. It is so easy to be an iconoclast, to think that _cui bono_ is a conclusive argument, to say so glibly that Raphael was not a great painter,--to do anything but construct. A few years ago every one must take up with the heuristic method developed in Germany half a century back and containing much that was commendable. A little later one who did not believe that the Culture Epoch Theory was vital in education was looked upon with pity by a considerable number of serious educators. A little later the man who did not think that the principle of Concentration in education was a _regula aurea_ was thought to be hopeless. A little later it may have been that Correlation was the saving factor, to be looked upon in geometry teaching as a guiding beacon, even as the fusion of all mathematics is the temporary view of a few enthusiasts to-day.[35]

And just now it is vocational training that is the catch phrase, and to many this phrase seems to sound the funeral knell of the standard textbook in geometry. But does it do so? Does this present cry of the pedagogical circle really mean that we are no longer to have geometry for geometry's sake? Does it mean that a panacea has been found for the ills of memorizing without understanding a proof in the cla.s.s of a teacher who is so inefficient as to allow this kind of work to go on?

Does it mean that a teacher who does not see the human side of geometry, who does not know the real uses of geometry, and who has no faculty of making pupils enthusiastic over geometry,--that this teacher is to succeed with some sc.r.a.ppy, weak, pretending apology for a real work on the subject?

No one believes in stupid teaching, in memorizing a textbook, in having a book that does all the work for a pupil, or in any of the other ills of inefficient instruction. On the other hand, no fair-minded person can condemn a type of book that has stood for generations until something besides the mere transient experiments of the moment has been suggested to replace it. Let us, for example, consider the question of having the basal propositions proved in full, a feature that is so easy to condemn as leading to memorizing.

The argument in favor of a book with every basal proposition proved in full, or with most of them so proved, the rest having only suggestions for the proof, is that the pupil has before him standard forms exhibiting the best, most succinct, most clearly stated demonstrations that geometry contains. The demonstrations stand for the same thing that the type problems stand for in algebra, and are generally given in full in the same way. The argument against the plan is that it takes away the pupil's originality by doing all the work for him, allowing him to merely memorize the work. Now if all there is to geometry were in the basal propositions, this argument might hold, just as it would hold in algebra in case there were only those exercises that are solved in full.

But just as this is not the case in algebra, the solved exercises standing as types or as bases for the pupil's real work, so the demonstrated proposition forms a relatively small part of geometry, standing as a type, a basis for the more important part of the work.

Moreover, a pupil who uses a syllabus is exposed to a danger that should be considered, namely, that of dishonesty. Any textbook in geometry will furnish the proofs of most of the propositions in a syllabus, whatever changes there may be in the sequence, and it is not a healthy condition of mind that is induced by getting the proofs surrept.i.tiously. Unless a teacher has more time for the course than is usually allowed, he cannot develop the new work as much as is necessary with only a syllabus, and the result is that a pupil gets more of his work from other books and has less time for exercises. The question therefore comes to this: Is it better to use a book containing standard forms of proof for the basal propositions, and have time for solving a large number of original exercises and for seeking the applications of geometry? Or is it better to use a book that requires more time on the basal propositions, with the danger of dishonesty, and allows less time for solving originals? To these questions the great majority of teachers answer in favor of the textbook with most of the basal propositions fully demonstrated. In general, therefore, it is a good rule to use the proofs of the basal propositions as models, and to get the original work from the exercises.

Unless we preserve these model proofs, or unless we supply them with a syllabus, the habit of correct, succinct self-expression, which is one of the chief a.s.sets of geometry, will tend to become atrophied. So important is this habit that "no system of education in which its performance is neglected can hope or profess to evolve men and women who are competent in the full sense of the word. So long as teachers of geometry neglect the possibilities of the subject in this respect, so long will the time devoted to it be in large part wasted, and so long will their pupils continue to imbibe the vicious idea that it is much more important to be able to do a thing than to say how it can be done."[36]

It is here that the chief danger of syllabus-teaching lies, and it is because of this patent fact that a syllabus without a carefully selected set of model proofs, or without the unnecessary expenditure of time by the cla.s.s, is a dangerous kind of textbook.

What shall then be said of those books that merely suggest the proofs, or that give a series of questions that lead to the demonstrations?

There is a certain plausibility about such a plan at first sight. But it is easily seen to have only a fict.i.tious claim to educational value. In the first place, it is merely an attempt on the part of the book to take the place of the teacher and to "develop" every lesson by the heuristic method. The questions are so framed as to admit, in most cases, of only a single answer, so that this answer might just as well be given instead of the question. The pupil has therefore a proof requiring no more effort than is the case in the standard form of textbook, but not given in the clear language of a careful writer. Furthermore, the pupil is losing here, as when he uses only a syllabus, one of the very things that he should be acquiring, namely, the habit of reading mathematics.

If he met only syllabi without proofs, or "suggestive" geometries, or books that endeavored to question every proof out of him, he would be in a sorry plight when he tried to read higher mathematics, or even other elementary treatises. It is for reasons such as these that the heuristic textbook has never succeeded for any great length of time or in any wide territory.

And finally, upon this point, shall the demonstrations be omitted entirely, leaving only the list of propositions,--in other words, a pure syllabus? This has been sufficiently answered above. But there is a modification of the pure syllabus that has much to commend itself to teachers of exceptional strength and with more confidence in themselves than is usually found. This is an arrangement that begins like the ordinary textbook and, after the pupil has acquired the form of proof, gradually merges into a syllabus, so that there is no temptation to go surrept.i.tiously to other books for help. Such a book, if worked out with skill, would appeal to an enthusiastic teacher, and would accomplish the results claimed for the cruder forms of manual already described. It would not be in general as safe a book as the standard form, but with the right teacher it would bring good results.

In conclusion, there are two types of textbook that have any hope of success. The first is the one with all or a large part of the basal propositions demonstrated in full, and with these propositions not unduly reduced in number. Such a book should give a large number of simple exercises scattered through the work, with a relatively small number of difficult ones. It should be modern in its spirit, with figures systematically lettered, with each page a unit as far as possible, and with every proof a model of clearness of statement and neatness of form. Above all, it should not yield to the demand of a few who are always looking merely for something to change, nor should it in a reactionary spirit return to the old essay form of proof, which hinders the pupil at this stage.

The second type is the semisyllabus, otherwise with all the spirit of the first type. In both there should be an honest fusion of pure and applied geometry, with no exercises that pretend to be practical without being so, with no forced applications that lead the pupil to measure things in a way that would appeal to no practical man, with no merely narrow range of applications, and with no array of difficult terms from physics and engineering that submerge all thought of mathematics in the slough of despond of an unknown technical vocabulary.

Outdoor exercises, even if somewhat primitive, may be introduced, but it should be perfectly understood that such exercises are given for the purpose of increasing the interest in geometry, and they should be abandoned if they fail of this purpose.

=Bibliography.= For a list of standard textbooks issued prior to the present generation, consult the bibliography in Stamper, History of the Teaching of Geometry, New York, 1908.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] For some cla.s.ses of schools and under certain circ.u.mstances courses in combined mathematics are very desirable. All that is here insisted upon is that any general fusion all along the line would result in weak, insipid, and uninteresting mathematics. A beginning, inspirational course in combined mathematics has a good reason for being in many high schools in spite of its manifest disadvantages, and such a course may be developed to cover all of the required mathematics given in certain schools.

[36] Carson, loc. cit., p. 15.

CHAPTER VIII

THE RELATION OF ALGEBRA TO GEOMETRY

From the standpoint of theory there is or need be no relation whatever between algebra and geometry. Algebra was originally the science of the equation, as its name[37] indicates. This means that it was the science of finding the value of an unknown quant.i.ty in a statement of equality.

Later it came to mean much more than this, and Newton spoke of it as universal arithmetic, and wrote an algebra with this t.i.tle. At present the term is applied to the elements of a science in which numbers are represented by letters and in which certain functions are studied, functions which it is not necessary to specify at this time. The work relates chiefly to functions involving the idea of number. In geometry, on the other hand, the work relates chiefly to form. Indeed, in pure geometry number plays practically no part, while in pure algebra form plays practically no part.

In 1687 the great French philosopher, Descartes, wishing to picture certain algebraic functions, wrote a work of about a hundred pages, ent.i.tled "La Geometrie," and in this he showed a correspondence between the numbers of algebra (which may be expressed by letters) and the concepts of geometry. This was the first great step in the a.n.a.lytic geometry that finally gave us the graph in algebra. Since then there have been brought out from time to time other a.n.a.logies between algebra and geometry, always to the advantage of each science. This has led to a desire on the part of some teachers to unite algebra and geometry into one science, having simply a cla.s.s in mathematics without these special names.

It is well to consider the advantages and the disadvantages of such a plan, and to decide as to the rational att.i.tude to be taken by teachers concerning the question at issue. On the side of advantages it is claimed that there is economy of time and of energy. If a pupil is studying formulas, let the formulas of geometry be studied; if he is taking up ratio and proportion; let him do so for algebra and geometry at the same time; if he is solving quadratics, let him apply them at once to certain propositions concerning secants; and if he is proving that (_a_ + _b_)^2 equals _a_^2 + 2_ab_ + _b_^2, let him do so by algebra and by geometry simultaneously. It is claimed that not only is there economy in this arrangement, but that the pupil sees mathematics as a whole, and thus acquires more of a mastery than comes by our present "tandem arrangement."

On the side of disadvantages it may be asked if the same arguments would not lead us to teach Latin and Greek together, or Latin and French, or all three simultaneously? If pupils should decline nouns in all three languages at the same time, learn to count in all at the same time, and begin to translate in all simultaneously, would there not be an economy of time and effort, and would there not be developed a much broader view of language? Now the fusionist of algebra and geometry does not like this argument, and he says that the cases are not parallel, and he tries to tell why they are not. He demands that his opponent abandon argument by a.n.a.logy and advance some positive reason why algebra and geometry should not be fused. Then his opponent says that it is not for him to advance any reason for what already exists, the teaching of the two separately; that he has only to refute the fusionist's arguments, and that he has done so. He a.s.serts that algebra and geometry are as distinct as chemistry and biology; that they have a few common points, but not enough to require teaching them together. He claims that to begin Latin and Greek at the same time has always proved to be confusing, and that the same is true of algebra and geometry. He grants that unified knowledge is desirable, but he argues that when the fine arts of music and color work fuse, and when the natural sciences of chemistry and physics are taught in the same cla.s.s, and when we follow the declension of a German noun by that of a French noun and a Latin noun, and when we teach drawing and penmanship together, then it is well to talk of mixing algebra and geometry.

It is well, before deciding such a question for ourselves (for evidently we cannot decide it for the world), to consider what has been the result of experience. Algebra and geometry were always taught together in early times, as were trigonometry and astronomy. The Ahmes papyrus contains both primitive algebra and primitive geometry. Euclid's "Elements"

contains not only pure geometry, but also a geometric algebra and the theory of numbers. The early works of the Hindus often fused geometry and arithmetic, or geometry and algebra. Even the first great printed compendium of mathematics, the "S[=u]ma" of Paciuolo (1494) contained all of the branches of mathematics. Much of this later attempt was not, however, an example of perfect fusion, but rather of a.s.signing one set of chapters to algebra, another to geometry, and another to arithmetic.

So fusion, more or less perfect, has been tried over long periods, and abandoned as each subject grew more complete in itself, with its own language and its peculiar symbols.

But it is a.s.serted that fusion is being carried on successfully to-day by more than one enthusiastic teacher, and that this proves the contention that the plan is a good one. Books are cited to show that the arrangement is feasible, and cla.s.ses are indicated where the work is progressing along this line.

What, then, is the conclusion? That is a question for the teacher to settle, but it is one upon which a writer on the teaching of mathematics should not fear to express his candid opinion.

It is a fact that the Greek and Latin fusion is a fair a.n.a.logy. There are reasons for it, but there are many more against it, the chief one being the confusion of beginning two languages at once, and the learning simultaneously of two vocabularies that must be kept separate. It is also a fact that algebra and geometry are fully as distinct as physics and chemistry, or chemistry and biology. Life may be electricity, and a brief cessation of oxidization in the lungs brings death, but these facts are no reasons for fusing the sciences of physics, biology, and chemistry. Algebra is primarily a theory of certain elementary functions, a generalized arithmetic, while geometry is primarily a theory of form with a highly refined logic to be used in its mastery.

They have a few things in common, as many other subjects have, but they have very many more features that are peculiar to the one or the other.

The experience of the world has led it away from a simultaneous treatment, and the contrary experience of a few enthusiastic teachers of to-day proves only their own powers to succeed with any method. It is easy to teach logarithms in the seventh school year, but it is not good policy to do so under present conditions. So the experience of the world is against the plan of strict fusion, and no arguments have as yet been advanced that are likely to change the world's view. No one has written a book combining algebra and geometry in this fashion that has helped the cause of fusion a particle; on the contrary, every such work that has appeared has damaged that cause by showing how unscientific a result has come from the labor of an enthusiastic supporter of the movement.

But there is one feature that has not been considered above, and that is a serious handicap to any effort at combining the two sciences in the high school, and this is the question of relative difficulty. It is sometimes said, in a doctrinaire fashion, that geometry is easier than algebra, since form is easier to grasp than function, and that therefore geometry should precede algebra. But every teacher of mathematics knows better than this. He knows that the simplest form is easier to grasp than the simplest function, but nevertheless that plane geometry, as we understand the term to-day, is much more difficult than elementary algebra for a pupil of fourteen. The child studies form in the kindergarten before he studies number, and this is sound educational policy. He studies form, in mensuration, throughout his course in arithmetic, and this, too, is good educational policy. This kind of geometry very properly precedes algebra. But the demonstrations of geometry, the study by pupils of fourteen years of a geometry that was written for college students and always studied by them until about fifty years ago,--that is by no means as easy as the study of a simple algebraic symbolism and its application to easy equations. If geometry is to be taught for the same reasons as at present, it cannot advantageously be taught earlier than now without much simplification, and it cannot successfully be fused with algebra save by some teacher who is willing to sacrifice an undue amount of energy to no really worthy purpose. When great mathematicians like Professor Klein speak of the fusion of all mathematics, they speak from the standpoint of advanced students, not for the teacher of elementary geometry.

It is therefore probable that simple mensuration will continue, as a part of arithmetic, to precede algebra, as at present; and that algebra into or through quadratics will precede geometry,[38] drawing upon the mensuration of arithmetic as may be needed; and that geometry will follow this part of algebra, using its principles as far as possible to a.s.sist in the demonstrations and to express and manipulate its formulas.

Plane geometry, or else a year of plane and solid geometry, will probably, in this country, be followed by algebra, completing quadratics and studying progressions; and by solid geometry, or a supplementary course in plane and solid geometry, this work being elective in many, if not all, schools.[39] It is also probable that a general review of mathematics, where the fusion idea may be carried out, will prove to be a feature of the last year of the high school, and one that will grow in popularity as time goes on. Such a plan will keep algebra and geometry separate, but it will allow each to use all of the other that has preceded it, and will encourage every effort in this direction. It will accomplish all that a more complete fusion really hopes to accomplish, and it will give encouragement to all who seek to modernize the spirit of each of these great branches of mathematics.

There is, however, a chance for fusion in two cla.s.ses of school, neither of which is as yet well developed in this country. The first is the technical high school that is at present coming into some prominence. It is not probable even here that the best results can be secured by eliminating all mathematics save only what is applicable in the shop, but if this view should prevail for a time, there would be so little left of either algebra or geometry that each could readily be joined to the other. The actual amount of algebra needed by a foreman in a machine shop can be taught in about four lessons, and the geometry or mensuration that he needs can be taught in eight lessons at the most.

The necessary trigonometry may take eight more, so that it is entirely feasible to unite these three subjects. The boy who takes such a course would know as much about mathematics as a child who had read ten pages in a primer would know about literature, but he would have enough for his immediate needs, even though he had no appreciation of mathematics as a science. If any one asks if this is not all that the school should give him, it might be well to ask if the school should give only the ability to read, without the knowledge of any good literature; if it should give only the ability to sing, without the knowledge of good music; if it should give only the ability to speak, without any training in the use of good language; and if it should give a knowledge of home geography, without any intimation that the world is round,--an atom in the unfathomable universe about us.

The second opportunity for fusion is possibly (for it is by no means certain) to be found in a type of school in which the only required courses are the initial ones. These schools have some strong advocates, it being claimed that every pupil should be introduced to the large branches of knowledge and then allowed to elect the ones in which he finds himself the most interested. Whether or not this is sound educational policy need not be discussed at this time; but if such a plan were developed, it might be well to offer a somewhat superficial (in the sense of abridged) course that should embody a little of algebra, a little of geometry, and a little of trigonometry. This would unconsciously become a bait for students, and the result would probably be some good teaching in the cla.s.s in question. It is to be hoped that we may have some strong, well-considered textbooks upon this phase of the work.

As to the fusion of trigonometry and plane geometry little need be said, because the subject is in the doctrinaire stage. Trigonometry naturally follows the chapter on similar triangles, but to put it there means, in our crowded curriculum, to eliminate something from geometry. Which, then, is better,--to give up the latter portion of geometry, or part of it at least, or to give up trigonometry? Some advocates have entered a plea for two or three lessons in trigonometry at this point, and this is a feature that any teacher may introduce as a bit of interest, as is suggested in Chapter XVI, just as he may give a popular talk to his cla.s.s upon the fourth dimension or the non-Euclidean geometry. The lasting impression upon the pupil will be exactly the same as that of four lessons in Sanskrit while he is studying Latin. He might remember each with pleasure, Latin being related, as it is, to Sanskrit, and trigonometry being an outcome of the theory of similar triangles. But that either of these departures from the regular sequence is of any serious mathematical or linguistic significance no one would feel like a.s.serting. Each is allowable on the score of interest, but neither will add to the pupil's power in any essential feature.

Each of these subjects is better taught by itself, each using the other as far as possible and being followed by a review that shall make use of all. It is not improbable that we may in due time have high schools that give less extended courses in algebra and geometry, adding brief practical courses in trigonometry and the elements of the calculus; but even in such schools it is likely to be found that geometry is best taught by itself, making use of all the mathematics that has preceded it.

It will of course be understood that the fusion of algebra and geometry as here understood has nothing to do with the question of teaching the two subjects simultaneously, say two days in the week for one and three days for the other. This plan has many advocates, although on the whole it has not been well received in this country. But what is meant here is the actual fusing of algebra and geometry day after day,--a plan that has as yet met with only a sporadic success, but which may be developed for beginning cla.s.ses in due time.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] _Al-jabr wa'l-muq[=a]balah_: "restoration and equation" is a fairly good translation of the Arabic.

[38] Or be carried along at the same time as a distinct topic.

[39] With a single year for required geometry it would be better from every point of view to cut the plane geometry enough to admit a fair course in solid geometry.

CHAPTER IX

THE INTRODUCTION TO GEOMETRY