On 12/23/21 6:02 PM, John Cowan wrote: > C _arithmetic_ meant 'number theory', and so the part concerned with > the computation of "ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision" > (Lewis Carroll) was _elementary arithmetic_.  (Before that it was > _algorism_.)  When _higher arithmetic_ got its own name, the > _elementary_ part was dropped in accordance with Grice's Maxim of > Quantity ("be as informative as you can, giving as much information as > necessary, but no more").  This did not happen to _algebra_, which > still can mean either elementary or abstract algebra, still less to > _geometry_. > > In addition, from the teacher's viewpoint school mathematics is a > continuum, including the elementary parts of arithmetic, algebra, > geometry, trigonometry, and in recent times probability theory and Hey that was 50 years ago! topics like Matrices, subjects like Algebra, Geometry, so things like Integration+ Differentiation, integration by parts, simple statistics etc. Arithmetic was of the form "A customer buys 2 pairs of gloves at 1 and 6pence halfpenny per pair and a hat for a crown.  She pays with a guinea; what is the smallest number of coins in change you can give her."  (a guinea was 21shillings, 12 pence in a shilling, a crown was 5 shillings etc etc).  I think I would be better called mental arithmetic.  We had ounces and pounds, and stones and hundredweight.  Inches, hands, feet, yards, chains, furlongs, miles etc.  So perhaps arithmetic was a more required learning?