Intermediate Algebra

Title: Intermediate Algebra
Genre: Text
Authors: Edward I. Edgerton and Perry A. Carpenter
Publisher: Allyn and Bacon, Boston, Massachusetts
Year: 1947 (new edition of 1945 book)
Pages: 508
Format: Hardback with printed cover.
Provenance: Handwritten names of two previous owners, Ridgely B. Duvall and Talmage I. Swain. Also contains numbers handwritten on first page and inside back cover.
Chapter Titles: Fundamental Operations; The Equation; Products, Factors and Their Applications; Fractions and Fractional Equations; Powers and Roots; Exponents; Radicals; Imaginaries; Quadratic Equations; General Properties of the Quadratic Equation; Systems of Equations; Graphs; Ratio, Proportion, and Variation; Series or Progressions; The Binomial Theorem; Logarithms; Trigonometry; Supplementary Topics; Review; Tables; Index.
Opening Sentence: “The quantities with which we deal in the study of algebra are the same as those in arithmetic.”
Random Passage: “The imaginary number is imaginary in the same sense that a negative number or an irrational number is imaginary for a person who knows only the positive integers.”
Notes: The cover of this 1940s textbook shows a streamlined airplane soaring over a curved surface sporting mountains and dark shapes, rendered in pumpkin orange and navy blue, linen surface weathered to a nice, aged patina. Both of the noted previous owners of this book were counted as children in the 1940 United States Census — it's likely that they also sat in Algebra class, bored, with one eye on the classroom clock.