B chapter.indd - Charles Babbage Institute - University of Minnesota

Erwin Tomash Library
Brown, George Brown, George
B 270
Brown, George (1650–1730)
Arithmetica infinita or the accurate accomptant’s best
companion contriv’d and calculated …
Year: 1717/1718 Julian/Gregorian
Place: [Edinburgh]
Publisher: Brown
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Figures: engraved portrait frontispiece
Binding: contemporary panelled leather
Pagination: pp. [4], 14, 126, 10
Collation: π 2 a 7 A–H 8 I 4
Size: 95x120 mm
B 270
George Brown was a Scottish minister who apparently
graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1675
(another account has him graduating from Edinburgh
University in 1664, but he would only have been 14 at
that time – not impossible for the time, but unusual).
He apparently served in various parishes in Scotland,
but after the revolution of 1688, he lost his license to
practice. He created a device known as a Rotula, a
circular instrument for performing elementary arithmetic
operations, and published works on arithmetic and tables
for the conversion of English to Scots currency. For
information on the Rotula, see Duncan Wilson, “The
Rotula, a seventeenth century calculating device,” The
Scottish Educational Journal, April 14, 1933, pp. 432–
433.
Brown’s last publication, this small book of tables was
engraved, excepting one typeset page bearing a letter
from the astronomer John Keill recommending the use
of the tables. The two tables are each concerned with
interest and do not use a decimal point but rather a small
∟ symbol. A manuscript page, pasted into the front,
explains that the tables are artificial numbers, adopted to
our English money: 1₤ or twenty shillings sterling being
the Integer (see illustration).
Illustrations available:
Title page
Frontispiece of Brown
Sample table page
Manuscript page of explanation
B 271
Brown, George (1650–1730)
George Brown, B 270
Table, B 270
A compendious, but a compleat system of decimal
arithmetick, containing more exact rules for ordering
infinites, than any hitherto extant.
Year: 1701
Place: Edinburgh
Publisher: Brown
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Binding: contemporary leather
Pagination: pp. 68
Collation: A–E 4 F–G 2 H–I 4 K 2
Size: 175x142 mm
This is an elementary arithmetic beginning with a
description of the four basic operations. The last half
presents the rule of three and a few simple business
problems. The final section on compound interest
illustrates the process with logarithms but does not
include a table.
Illustrations available:
Title page
213