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Basic Math and Pre Algebra For Dummies 2nd Edition
Mark Zegarelli Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Mark Zegarelli
ISBN(s): 9781118791981, 1118791983
File Details: PDF, 4.65 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
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Basic Math &
Pre-Algebra

2nd Edition

by Mark Zegarelli

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Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
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Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011,
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952434
ISBN 978-1-118-79198-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-79199-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-79205-6 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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 Contents at a Glance
Introduction................................................................. 1
Part I: Getting Started with Basic Math and
Pre-Algebra.................................................................. 5
Chapter 1: Playing the Numbers Game............................................................................ 7
Chapter 2: It’s All in the Fingers: Numbers and Digits................................................. 25
Chapter 3: The Big Four: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division......... 31

Part II: Getting a Handle on Whole Numbers................ 49

Chapter 4: Putting the Big Four Operations to Work................................................... 51
Chapter 5: A Question of Values: Evaluating Arithmetic Expressions....................... 67
Chapter 6: Say What? Turning Words into Numbers................................................... 79
Chapter 7: Divisibility....................................................................................................... 91
Chapter 8: Fabulous Factors and Marvelous Multiples............................................... 99

Part III: Parts of the Whole: Fractions, Decimals,

and Percents............................................................ 113
Chapter 9: Fooling with Fractions................................................................................. 115
Chapter 10: Parting Ways: Fractions and the Big Four Operations.......................... 131
Chapter 11: Dallying with Decimals.............................................................................. 157
Chapter 12: Playing with Percents................................................................................ 181
Chapter 13: Word Problems with Fractions, Decimals, and Percents..................... 193

Part IV: Picturing and Measuring — Graphs,

Measures, Stats, and Sets.......................................... 205
Chapter 14: A Perfect Ten: Condensing Numbers with Scientific Notation............ 207
Chapter 15: How Much Have You Got? Weights and Measures................................ 215
Chapter 16: Picture This: Basic Geometry................................................................... 227
Chapter 17: Seeing Is Believing: Graphing as a Visual Tool...................................... 249
Chapter 18: Solving Geometry and Measurement Word Problems.......................... 257
Chapter 19: Figuring Your Chances: Statistics and Probability................................ 269
Chapter 20: Setting Things Up with Basic Set Theory............................................... 281

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Part V: The X-Files: Introduction to Algebra................ 289
Chapter 21: Enter Mr. X: Algebra and Algebraic Expressions................................... 291
Chapter 22: Unmasking Mr. X: Algebraic Equations................................................... 309
Chapter 23: Putting Mr. X to Work: Algebra Word Problems.................................... 321

Part VI: The Part of Tens........................................... 331

Chapter 24: Ten Little Math Demons That Trip People Up....................................... 333
Chapter 25: Ten Important Number Sets to Know..................................................... 339

Index....................................................................... 347

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 Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................. 1
About This Book............................................................................................... 1
Foolish Assumptions........................................................................................ 2
Icons Used in This Book.................................................................................. 3
Beyond the Book.............................................................................................. 3
Where to Go from Here.................................................................................... 4

Part I: Getting Started with Basic Math

and Pre-Algebra............................................................ 5
Chapter 1: Playing the Numbers Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Inventing Numbers........................................................................................... 8
Understanding Number Sequences................................................................ 8
Evening the odds.................................................................................... 9
Counting by threes, fours, fives, and so on......................................... 9
Getting square with square numbers................................................. 10
Composing yourself with composite numbers................................. 10
Stepping out of the box with prime numbers................................... 12
Multiplying quickly with exponents................................................... 12
Looking at the Number Line.......................................................................... 13
Adding and subtracting on the number line..................................... 14
Getting a handle on nothing, or zero.................................................. 15
Taking a negative turn: Negative numbers........................................ 16
Multiplying the possibilities................................................................ 17
Dividings things up............................................................................... 18
Discovering the space in between: Fractions................................... 20
Four Important Sets of Numbers.................................................................. 20
Counting on the counting numbers.................................................... 21
Introducing integers............................................................................. 21
Staying rational..................................................................................... 22
Getting real............................................................................................ 22

Chapter 2: It’s All in the Fingers: Numbers and Digits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Knowing Your Place Value............................................................................ 25
Counting to ten and beyond................................................................ 26
Telling placeholders from leading zeros........................................... 27
Reading long numbers......................................................................... 28
Close Enough for Rock ’n’ Roll: Rounding and Estimating........................ 28
Rounding numbers............................................................................... 28
Estimating value to make problems easier........................................ 30

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vi Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3: The Big Four: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication,

and Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Adding Things Up........................................................................................... 31
In line: Adding larger numbers in columns....................................... 32
Carry on: Dealing with two-digit answers.......................................... 32
Take It Away: Subtracting.............................................................................. 33
Columns and stacks: Subtracting larger numbers............................ 34
Can you spare a ten? Borrowing to ­subtract..................................... 35
Multiplying....................................................................................................... 38
Signs of the times.................................................................................. 38
Memorizing the multiplication table.................................................. 39
Double digits: Multiplying larger numbers........................................ 43
Doing Division Lickety-Split.......................................................................... 44
Making short work of long division.................................................... 45
Getting leftovers: Division with a remainder.................................... 48

Part II: Getting a Handle on Whole Numbers................. 49

Chapter 4: Putting the Big Four Operations to Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Knowing Properties of the Big Four Operations......................................... 51
Inverse operations................................................................................ 52
Commutative operations..................................................................... 53
Associative operations......................................................................... 54
Distribution to lighten the load........................................................... 55
Doing Big Four Operations with Negative Numbers.................................. 55
Addition and subtraction with negative numbers............................ 56
Multiplication and division with negative numbers......................... 58
Understanding Units...................................................................................... 59
Adding and subtracting units.............................................................. 59
Multiplying and dividing units............................................................ 59
Understanding Inequalities........................................................................... 60
Doesn’t equal (≠)................................................................................... 60
Less than (<) and greater than (>)...................................................... 61
Less than or equal to (≤) and greater than or equal to (≥).............. 61
Approximately equals (≈).................................................................... 62
Moving beyond the Big Four: Exponents, Square Roots, and
Absolute Value............................................................................................ 62
Understanding exponents.................................................................... 62
Discovering your roots........................................................................ 64
Figuring out absolute value................................................................. 64

Chapter 5: A Question of Values: Evaluating Arithmetic

Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Seeking Equality for All: Equations.............................................................. 67
Hey, it’s just an expression.................................................................. 69
Evaluating the situation....................................................................... 69
Putting the Three E’s together............................................................ 69

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 Table of Contents vii
Introducing Order of Operations.................................................................. 70
Applying order of operations to Big Four expressions.................... 71
Using order of operations in expressions with exponents.............. 74
Understanding order of precedence in expressions with
parentheses....................................................................................... 75

Chapter 6: Say What? Turning Words into Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Dispelling Two Myths about Word Problems............................................. 80
Word problems aren’t always hard.................................................... 80
Word problems are useful................................................................... 80
Solving Basic Word Problems....................................................................... 81
Turning word problems into word equations................................... 81
Plugging in numbers for words........................................................... 84
Solving More-Complex Word Problems....................................................... 86
When numbers get serious.................................................................. 86
Too much information......................................................................... 87
Putting it all together........................................................................... 89

Chapter 7: Divisibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Knowing the Divisibility Tricks..................................................................... 91
Counting everyone in: Numbers you can divide everything by..... 92
In the end: Looking at the final digits................................................. 92
Add it up: Checking divisibility by adding up digits........................ 94
Ups and downs: Divisibility by 11....................................................... 95
Identifying Prime and Composite Numbers................................................ 97

Chapter 8: Fabulous Factors and Marvelous Multiples. . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Knowing Six Ways to Say the Same Thing................................................... 99
Connecting Factors and Multiples.............................................................. 100
Finding Fabulous Factors............................................................................ 101
Deciding when one number is a factor of another......................... 101
Understanding factor pairs................................................................ 102
Generating a number’s factors.......................................................... 102
Identifying prime factors................................................................... 104
Finding the greatest common factor (GCF)..................................... 109
Making Marvelous Multiples....................................................................... 110
Generating multiples.......................................................................... 110
Finding the least common multiple (LCM)...................................... 111

Part III: Parts of the Whole: Fractions, Decimals,

and Percents............................................................. 113
Chapter 9: Fooling with Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Slicing a Cake into Fractions....................................................................... 116
Knowing the Fraction Facts of Life............................................................. 117
Telling the numerator from the denominator................................. 118
Flipping for reciprocals...................................................................... 118

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viii Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Using ones and zeros......................................................................... 118

Mixing things up.................................................................................. 119
Knowing proper from improper........................................................ 119
Increasing and Reducing Terms of Fractions........................................... 120
Increasing the terms of fractions...................................................... 121
Reducing fractions to lowest terms.................................................. 123
Converting between Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers.............. 125
Knowing the parts of a mixed number............................................. 125
Converting a mixed number to an improper fraction.................... 126
Converting an improper fraction to a mixed number.................... 126
Understanding Cross-multiplication.......................................................... 127
Making Sense of Ratios and Proportions................................................... 128

Chapter 10: Parting Ways: Fractions and the Big Four

Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions............................................................ 131
Multiplying numerators and denominators straight across......... 132
Doing a flip to divide fractions.......................................................... 134
All Together Now: Adding Fractions.......................................................... 135
Finding the sum of fractions with the same denominator............. 135
Adding fractions with different denominators................................ 136
Taking It Away: Subtracting Fractions....................................................... 143
Subtracting fractions with the same denominator......................... 144
Subtracting fractions with different denominators........................ 144
Working Properly with Mixed Numbers.................................................... 148
Multiplying and dividing mixed numbers........................................ 148
Adding and subtracting mixed numbers......................................... 149

Chapter 11: Dallying with Decimals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Understanding Basic Decimal Stuff............................................................ 158
Counting dollars and decimals......................................................... 158
Identifying the place value of decimals............................................ 160
Knowing the decimal facts of life...................................................... 161
Performing the Big Four with Decimals..................................................... 166
Adding decimals.................................................................................. 166
Subtracting decimals.......................................................................... 168
Multiplying decimals.......................................................................... 169
Dividing decimals................................................................................ 170
Converting between Decimals and Fractions........................................... 174
Making simple conversions............................................................... 174
Changing decimals to fractions......................................................... 175
Changing fractions to decimals......................................................... 177

Chapter 12: Playing with Percents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Making Sense of Percents............................................................................ 181
Dealing with Percents Greater than 100%................................................. 182

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 Table of Contents ix
Converting to and from Percents, Decimals, and Fractions................... 183
Going from percents to decimals...................................................... 183
Changing decimals into percents..................................................... 183
Switching from percents to fractions............................................... 184
Turning fractions into percents........................................................ 185
Solving Percent Problems........................................................................... 186
Figuring out simple percent problems............................................. 186
Turning the problem around............................................................. 187
Deciphering more-difficult percent ­problems................................. 188
Putting All the Percent Problems Together.............................................. 189
Identifying the three types of percent problems............................ 189
Solving percent problems with equations....................................... 190

Chapter 13: Word Problems with Fractions, Decimals,

and Percents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Adding and Subtracting Parts of the Whole in Word Problems............. 193
Sharing a pizza: Fractions.................................................................. 194
Buying by the pound: Decimals........................................................ 195
Splitting the vote: Percents............................................................... 195
Problems about Multiplying Fractions...................................................... 196
Renegade grocery shopping: Buying less than they
tell you to......................................................................................... 196
Easy as pie: Working out what’s left on your plate........................ 197
Multiplying Decimals and Percents in Word Problems........................... 198
To the end: Figuring out how much money is left.......................... 199
Finding out how much you started with.......................................... 200
Handling Percent Increases and Decreases in Word Problems............. 202
Raking in the dough: Finding salary increases................................ 202
Earning interest on top of interest................................................... 203
Getting a deal: Calculating discounts............................................... 204

Part IV: Picturing and Measuring — Graphs,

Measures, Stats, and Sets.......................................... 205
Chapter 14: A Perfect Ten: Condensing Numbers with
Scientific Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
First Things First: Using Powers of Ten as Exponents............................. 208
Counting zeros and writing exponents............................................ 208
Adding exponents to multiply........................................................... 210
Working with Scientific Notation................................................................ 210
Writing in scientific notation............................................................. 211
Seeing why scientific notation works............................................... 212
Understanding order of magnitude.................................................. 213
Multiplying with scientific notation................................................. 214

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x Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 15: How Much Have You Got? Weights and Measures . . . . 215
Examining Differences between the English and Metric Systems.......... 215
Looking at the English system.......................................................... 216
Looking at the metric system............................................................ 218
Estimating and Converting between the English and
Metric Systems.......................................................................................... 220
Estimating in the metric system....................................................... 221
Converting units of measurement.................................................... 223

Chapter 16: Picture This: Basic Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Getting on the Plane: Points, Lines, Angles, and Shapes......................... 228
Making some points............................................................................ 228
Knowing your lines............................................................................. 228
Figuring the angles.............................................................................. 229
Shaping things up............................................................................... 231
Closed Encounters: Shaping Up Your Understanding of 2-D Shapes..... 231
Polygons............................................................................................... 232
Circles................................................................................................... 234
Taking a Trip to Another Dimension: Solid Geometry............................. 235
The many faces of polyhedrons........................................................ 235
3-D shapes with curves...................................................................... 236
Measuring Shapes: Perimeter, Area, Surface Area, and Volume............ 238
2-D: Measuring on the flat.................................................................. 238
Spacing out: Measuring in three dimensions.................................. 245

Chapter 17: Seeing Is Believing: Graphing as a Visual Tool. . . . . . . . 249

Looking at Three Important Graph Styles................................................. 249
Bar graph............................................................................................. 250
Pie chart............................................................................................... 251
Line graph............................................................................................ 252
Using the xy-Graph....................................................................................... 253
Plotting points on an xy-graph.......................................................... 253
Drawing lines on an xy-graph............................................................ 254

Chapter 18: Solving Geometry and Measurement

Word Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
The Chain Gang: Solving Measurement Problems with
Conversion Chains.................................................................................... 257
Setting up a short chain..................................................................... 258
Working with more links.................................................................... 259
Pulling equations out of the text....................................................... 260
Rounding off: Going for the short answer....................................... 262
Solving Geometry Word Problems............................................................. 263
Working from words and images...................................................... 264
Breaking out those sketching skills.................................................. 265

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 Table of Contents xi
Chapter 19: Figuring Your Chances: Statistics and Probability . . . . . 269
Gathering Data Mathematically: Basic Statistics...................................... 269
Understanding differences between qualitative and
quantitative data............................................................................. 270
Working with qualitative data........................................................... 271
Working with quantitative data........................................................ 273
Looking at Likelihoods: Basic Probability................................................. 276
Figuring the probability..................................................................... 277
Oh, the possibilities! Counting outcomes with
multiple coins.................................................................................. 278

Chapter 20: Setting Things Up with Basic Set Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Understanding Sets...................................................................................... 281
Elementary, my dear: Considering what’s inside sets................... 282
Sets of numbers.................................................................................. 285
Performing Operations on Sets................................................................... 285
Union: Combined elements............................................................... 285
Intersection: Elements in common................................................... 286
Relative complement: Subtraction (sorta)...................................... 287
Complement: Feeling left out............................................................ 287

Part V: The X-Files: Introduction to Algebra................. 289

Chapter 21: Enter Mr. X: Algebra and Algebraic Expressions . . . . . . 291
Seeing How X Marks the Spot..................................................................... 292
Expressing Yourself with Algebraic Expressions..................................... 292
Evaluating algebraic expressions..................................................... 293
Coming to algebraic terms................................................................ 295
Making the commute: Rearranging your terms.............................. 296
Identifying the coefficient and variable........................................... 297
Identifying like terms.......................................................................... 298
Considering algebraic terms and the Big Four............................... 299
Simplifying Algebraic Expressions............................................................. 303
Combining like terms......................................................................... 303
Removing parentheses from an algebraic expression................... 304

Chapter 22: Unmasking Mr. X: Algebraic Equations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Understanding Algebraic Equations.......................................................... 310
Using x in equations........................................................................... 310
Choosing among four ways to solve algebraic equations............. 311
The Balancing Act: Solving for x................................................................. 312
Striking a balance................................................................................ 312
Using the balance scale to isolate x................................................. 313

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xii Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Rearranging Equations and Isolating x...................................................... 315

Rearranging terms on one side of an equation............................... 315
Moving terms to the other side of the equals sign......................... 315
Removing parentheses from equations........................................... 317
Cross-multiplying................................................................................ 319

Chapter 23: Putting Mr. X to Work: Algebra Word Problems . . . . . . . 321

Solving Algebra Word Problems in Five Steps.......................................... 322
Declaring a variable............................................................................ 322
Setting up the equation...................................................................... 323
Solving the equation........................................................................... 324
Answering the question..................................................................... 324
Checking your work............................................................................ 325
Choosing Your Variable Wisely.................................................................. 325
Solving More-Complex Algebraic Problems.............................................. 326
Charting four people.......................................................................... 326
Crossing the finish line with five people.......................................... 328

Part VI: The Part of Tens............................................ 331

Chapter 24: Ten Little Math Demons That Trip People Up. . . . . . . . . . 333
Knowing the Multiplication Table.............................................................. 333
Adding and Subtracting Negative Numbers.............................................. 334
Multiplying and Dividing Negative Numbers............................................ 335
Knowing the Difference between Factors and Multiples......................... 335
Reducing Fractions to Lowest Terms........................................................ 336
Adding and Subtracting Fractions.............................................................. 336
Multiplying and Dividing Fractions............................................................ 337
Identifying Algebra’s Main Goal: Find x..................................................... 337
Knowing Algebra’s Main Rule: Keep the Equation in Balance................ 337
Seeing Algebra’s Main Strategy: Isolate x.................................................. 338

Chapter 25: Ten Important Number Sets to Know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Counting on Counting (or Natural) Numbers........................................... 340
Identifying Integers....................................................................................... 340
Knowing the Rationale behind Rational Numbers................................... 341
Making Sense of Irrational Numbers.......................................................... 341
Absorbing Algebraic Numbers.................................................................... 342
Moving through Transcendental Numbers............................................... 343
Getting Grounded in Real Numbers........................................................... 343
Trying to Imagine Imaginary Numbers...................................................... 343
Grasping the Complexity of Complex Numbers....................................... 344
Going beyond the Infinite with Transfinite Numbers.............................. 345

Index........................................................................ 347

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 Introduction
O nce upon a time, you loved numbers. This isn’t the first line of a fairy
tale. Once upon a time, you really did love numbers. Remember?

Maybe you were 3 years old and your grandparents were visiting. You sat
next to them on the couch and recited the numbers from 1 to 10. Grandma
and Grandpa were proud of you and — be honest — you were proud of your-
self, too. Or maybe you were 5 and discovering how to write numbers, trying
hard not to print your 6 and 7 backward.

Learning was fun. Numbers were fun. So what happened? Maybe the trouble
started with long division. Or sorting out how to change fractions to deci-
mals. Could it have been figuring out how to add 8 percent sales tax to the
cost of a purchase? Reading a graph? Converting miles to kilometers? Trying
to find that most dreaded value of x? Wherever it started, you began to sus-
pect that math didn’t like you — and you didn’t like math very much, either.

Why do people often enter preschool excited about learning how to count
and leave high school as young adults convinced that they can’t do math?
The answer to this question would probably take 20 books this size, but solv-
ing the problem can begin right here.

I humbly ask you to put aside any doubts. Remember, just for a moment,
an innocent time — a time before math-inspired panic attacks or, at best,
induced irresistible drowsiness. In this book, I take you from an understand-
ing of the basics to the place where you’re ready to enter any algebra class
and succeed.

About This Book

Somewhere along the road from counting to algebra, most people experience
the Great Math Breakdown. This feels something like when your car begins
smoking and sputtering on a 110°F highway somewhere between Noplace and
Not Much Else.

Please consider this book your personal roadside helper, and think of me
as your friendly math mechanic (only much cheaper!). Stranded on the
interstate, you may feel frustrated by circumstances and betrayed by your
vehicle, but for the guy holding the toolbox, it’s all in a day’s work. The tools
for fixing the problem are in this book.

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2 Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Not only does this book help you with the basics of math, but it also helps
you get past any aversion you may feel toward math in general. I’ve broken
down the concepts into easy-to-understand sections. And because Basic Math
& Pre-Algebra For Dummies is a reference book, you don’t have to read the
chapters or sections in order — you can look over only what you need. So
feel free to jump around. Whenever I cover a topic that requires information
from earlier in the book, I refer you to that section or chapter, in case you
want to refresh yourself on the basics.

Here are two pieces of advice I give all the time — remember them as you
work your way through the concepts in this book:

✓ Take frequent breaks. Every 20 to 30 minutes, stand up and push in

your chair. Then feed the cat, do the dishes, take a walk, juggle tennis
balls, try on last year’s Halloween costume — do something to dis-
tract yourself for a few minutes. You’ll come back to your books more
­productive than if you just sat there hour after hour with your eyes
­glazing over.
✓ After you’ve read through an example and think you understand it,
copy the problem, close the book, and try to work it through. If you get
stuck, steal a quick look — but later, try that same example again to see
whether you can get through it without opening the book. (Remember
that, on any tests you’re preparing for, peeking is probably not allowed!)

Although every author secretly (or not-so-secretly) believes that each word
he pens is pure gold, you don’t have to read every word in this book unless
you really want to. Feel free to skip over sidebars (those shaded gray boxes)
where I go off on a tangent — unless you find tangents interesting, of course.
Paragraphs labeled with the Technical Stuff icon are also nonessential.

Foolish Assumptions
If you’re planning to read this book, you likely fall into one of these
categories:

✓ A student who wants a solid understanding of the basics of math for a

class or test you’re taking
✓ An adult who wants to improve skills in arithmetic, fractions, decimals,
percentages, weights and measures, geometry, algebra, and so on for
when you have to use math in the real world
✓ Someone who wants a refresher so you can help another person under-
stand math

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 Introduction 3
My only assumption about your skill level is that you can add, subtract, mul-
tiply, and divide. So to find out whether you’re ready for this book, take this
simple test:

5+6=
10 − 7 =
3×5=
20 ÷ 4 =

If you can answer these four questions, you’re ready to begin.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout the book, I use four icons to highlight what’s hot and what’s not:

This icon points out key ideas that you need to know. Make sure you under-
stand before reading on! Remember this info even after you close the book.

Tips are helpful hints that show you the quick and easy way to get things
done. Try them out, especially if you’re taking a math course.

Warnings flag common errors that you want to avoid. Get clear about where
these little traps are hiding so you don’t fall in.

This icon points out interesting trivia that you can read or skip over as you
like.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now,
remember that (as they say on those late-night infomercials) “There’s much,
much more!” Be sure to check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.Dummies.
com/cheatsheet/basicmathanndprealgebra for a set of quick reference
notes on converting between English and metric measurement units; using
the order of operations (also called order of precedence); working with the

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4 Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, 2nd Edition

commutative, associative, and distributive properties; converting among

fractions, decimals, and percents; and lots, lots more.

In addition, www.Dummies.com/webextras/basicmathandprealgebra
also contains a set of related material on topics like how to use factor trees
to find the greatest common factor (GCF) of two or more numbers; how to
use the percent circle, a helpful tool for solving percent problems; how to
calculate the probability of getting certain rolls in the casino game of craps,
and more.

And remember that in math, practice makes perfect. The Basic Math & Pre-
Algebra Workbook For Dummies includes hundreds of practice problems,
each group with a brief explanation to help you get started. And if that’s
not enough practice, 1,001 Practice Problems in Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For
Dummies provides lots more. Check them out!

Where to Go from Here

You can use this book in a few ways. If you’re reading this book without
immediate time pressure from a test or homework assignment, you can cer-
tainly start at the beginning and keep going to the end. The advantage to this
method is that you realize how much math you do know — the first few chap-
ters go very quickly. You gain a lot of confidence, as well as some practical
knowledge that can help you later, because the early chapters also set you
up to understand what follows.

If your time is limited — especially if you’re taking a math course and you’re
looking for help with your homework or an upcoming test — skip directly to
the topic you’re studying. Wherever you open the book, you can find a clear
explanation of the topic at hand, as well as a variety of hints and tricks. Read
through the examples and try to do them yourself, or use them as templates
to help you with assigned problems. Here’s a short list of topics that tend to
back students up:

✓ Negative numbers (Chapter 4)

✓ Order of operations (Chapter 5)
✓ Word problems (Chapters 6, 13, 18, and 23)
✓ Factoring of numbers (Chapter 8)
✓ Fractions (Chapters 9 and 10)

Generally, any time you spend building these five skills is like money in the bank
as you proceed in math, so you may want to visit these sections several times.

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 Part I
Getting Started with Basic
Math and Pre-Algebra

Visit www.dummies.com for great Dummies content online.

www.it-ebooks.info
 In this part…
✓ See how the number system was invented and how it
works
✓ Identify four important sets of numbers: counting numbers,
integers, rational numbers, and real numbers
✓ Use place value to write numbers of any size
✓ Round numbers to make calculating quicker
✓ Work with the Big Four operations: adding, subtracting, multi-
plying, and dividing

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Other documents randomly have
different content
Ten years Places Still in Still in existence (per
ending licensed. existence. cent.)
1810 5,460 1,169 21
1820 10,161 1,905 18
1830 10,585 2,865 27
1840 7,422 4,199 56
1850 5,810 4,397 75
39,438 14,535

This is a comparison which cannot fail to startle the editor of the

Patriot, and to shake the nerves of the Society for the Liberation of
Religion. It proves beyond the possibility of cavil that the enormous
and constantly increasing growth which Mr. Mann’s tables assign to
modern Dissent is “a mockery, a delusion, and a snare.” It shows,
moreover (which is the matter more immediately in hand), that
barely two in seven (21/75ths) of the Dissenting places of worship
which were in existence in 1801, are still remaining. The number of
such places was not 3,701, as Mr. Mann states, but between 13,000
and 14,000; and the estimate of sittings first made, after every
conceivable allowance for increase of average capacity, and other
sources of error, is thus greatly under rather than over the mark.
The Dissenting increase may, therefore, be safely taken at 2,758,309
sittings instead of 4,013,408; and if it be distributed according to the
proportion of places licensed, matters will stand thus:—

Ten years ending 1811 381,875

,, „ 1821 710,664
,, „ 1831 740,319
,, „ 1841 519,097
,, „ 1851 406,354
If it be objected that the average capacity of Dissenting buildings
has increased of late years, there are two answers—first, there is no
evidence of such increase to any material extent; and, secondly, that
there is an antagonistic influence at work, which would
counterbalance such increase if it existed. It must be clear that the
number of “causes” which annually collapse becomes greater in the
same ratio as the congregations themselves increase. Thus, almost
the same number of places were licensed in the ten years ending
1810 as in the same period ending 1850; but the number of places
discontinued out of 13,000 would obviously be less than the number
discontinued out of, say 18,500; so that unless the new Dissenting
meeting-houses are larger nowadays than was formerly the case,
the amount of sittings attributed to the latter periods is too large,
rather than too small.
We have now materials for the reconstruction of our table:—

Population. Church Dissenting Total

Sittings. Sittings. Sittings.
1801 8,892,536 3,024,615 2,136,339 5,160,954
Subsequent decennial increase:—
1811 1,271,720 55,250 381,875 437,125
1821 1,835,930 96,900 710,664 807,564
1831 1,896,561 276,250 740,319 1,016,569
1841 2,017,351 667,250 519,097 1,186,347
1851 2,013,161 1,197,650 406,354 1,604,004
Total 9,035,073 2,293,300 2,758,309 5,051,609
Increase
Total 17,927,609 5,317,915 4,894,648 10,212,583

The number of sittings per thousand of the population was, at the

different periods, as follows:—
 according to the above table. According to Mr. Mann’s Table.
Church. Dissent. Church. Dissent.
1801 340 240 482 99
1811 303 247 424 120
1821 264 269 363 145
1831 248 285 323 181
1841 258 282 300 238
1851 297 273 297 273

Thus it will be seen that every inference drawn from Mr. Mann’s
tables has proved false.
Dissent has not, during the half century, supplied four times as much
new accommodation as the Church—if it has supplied any more at
all, the excess does not amount to a fourth.
Dissent has not, during the last 20 years, supplied three times as
much accommodation as the Church—it has barely supplied half as
much.
Dissent is not advancing at a pace twice as rapid as the Church; on
the contrary, the Church is advancing at nearly three times the
speed of Dissent.
Dissent has not improved its position, and the Church has not lost
position since 1831; on the contrary, the Church has gained, and
Dissent has lost, ground since that year.
Finally, as churches, save only where there is an excess of
accommodation as compared with the population, are at least as
well attended as dissenting places of worship, the charge of
comparative inefficiency which has been so rashly brought against
the clergy proves to be utterly without foundation.
Here, then, the present inquiry might be brought to a close; and yet
it would be palpably unfair to the Church to rest the case upon a
mere comparison of the additional sittings supplied by her rivals and
by herself. A new church, generally speaking, means a very
different thing from a new meeting-house. It means a substantially
built and even highly-decorative structure, the freehold of which is
the property of the community to which it belongs; it means decent
and becoming furniture for the performance of divine service;
provision for a properly educated minister in perpetuity; service
performed at least twice every Sunday, or even twice every day; a
house for the resident minister; a day-school, or rather a group of
day-schools; and a host of other benevolent and educational
agencies. If the establishment of the day-school be taken as a
criterion how far the parochial machinery has been completed, the
following table from the report of the Educational Census will be
instructive:—
Day Schools Supported by Religious Bodies.

Founded before Church Schools. Dissenting Schools. Total.

1801 709 57 766
1811 350 60 410
1821 756 123 879
1831 897 124 1,021
1841 2,002 415 2,417
1855 3,448 1,156 4,604
Not stated 409 89 498
8,571 2,024 10,595

What, on the other hand, is the status of a majority of the 20,390

buildings returned to the Census office as “chapels” may be guessed
from the fact that the total number of professional dissenting
ministers of every description in 1851 was only 8,658.
A very tangible mode of settling the question which body has done
most to evangelise the people would be to inquire how much each
has spent? The “Society for the Liberation of Religion,” in a tract
they have put forth, grounded on the Census report, states that the
achievements of voluntaryism during the half century have been
“astonishing.” On the authority of Mr. Edward Baines, they assume
that of the 16,689 dissenting chapels opened since 1801, “only”
10,000 are separate buildings, and that the cost of each has been
“but” £1,500—in other words, that dissenters have spent
£15,000,000 on their meeting-houses during the last fifty years!
That would, indeed, be an “astonishing” result, but it is not half so
surprising as the perfervid imagination which dictated the
calculation. In point of fact, it is equivalent to saying that the
dissenters have provided three millions of permanent sittings, at the
rate of five pounds per sitting. The real truth, however, is that they
have not supplied more than two millions and three quarters of new
sittings of any kind; and when it is considered in how many cases
opening a new meeting-house means hiring a room or building, in
the popular phrase, “on tick”; when it is further borne in mind that
the average cost of churches is not above £5 or £6 per sitting, it will
be admitted that five or six millions sterling would be a remarkably
liberal sum to put down for the amount really raised by dissenters
for the purpose of self-extension during the half century. On the
other hand, the sum which must have been spent on churches
cannot have been less than ten or twelve millions—of which one-half
has been raised during the ten years 1841–51. The expenditure on
church extension at the present moment is at least five times as
great as that of all the dissenters put together.
The votaries of Iscariotism, or the “cheap and nasty” in religion, will
perhaps turn this fact to account, and abuse Churchmen for
lavishing such large sums of money on a few buildings, while there
is so much spiritual destitution calling for relief. They will perhaps
say, “Look what an amount of spiritual agency the Dissenters bring
to bear for half the sum you expend; and, after all, the Dissenters
‘get more out of’ their buildings than Churchmen.” At first sight, Mr.
Mann’s tables appear to justify this assertion; but here, as in every
other respect, they only mislead. According to Table 16 there were
on the Census Sunday 190 services in every 100 dissenting places of
worship; whereas, there were only 171 in the same number of
churches. But if this table be any criterion, it would appear that the
machinery of Dissent is, by comparison, more efficient in the rural
districts than in the towns; for while the Non-conformists opened
their town buildings on the average 2.10 times, and the Churchmen
2.06 times, they opened their country buildings 1.84 times and the
Churchmen only 1.64 times. Yet it must be obvious that the
proportion of country congregations which possess a regular ministry
must be very small, the greater part of the 8,658 professional
Dissenting preachers being required for the towns. The fact is, the
majority of country meeting-houses are served by non-professional
persons. As soon as the morning service is over in the towns, a
swarm of “Spiritual Bashi-Bazooks,” issue forth, who, for the rest of
the day, play the more ambitious, if not more edifying, rôle of
preacher. The sort of congregations to which they minister may be
gathered from a comparison of the number of meeting-houses and
the number of sittings open at the different periods of the day:—

Meeting Houses (open). Sittings (open).

Morning 11,875 3,645,875
Afternoon 11,338 2,506,116
Evening 15,619 3,983,725

So that in the afternoon, with only 537 fewer places open, the
number of sittings was 1,139,759 fewer than in the morning. In the
evening (when, of course, all the more important buildings which
were open in the morning were again accessible to the public) the
exertions of 3,744 additional preachers, nearly a third more, only
rendered available 337,850 additional sittings, or about one-eleventh
more; and they attracted only 97,668 additional hearers, an increase
of less than one in twenty-one! It may, perhaps, be allowable to
doubt whether the labours of non-resident, non-professional
preachers can be attended with any results worth speaking of; but,
at all events, their irregular ministrations can have no real bearing
on the question whether the regular meeting-houses are used more
or less frequently than the churches. Obviously, the fairest way
would be to inquire which class of buildings are opened the oftener
throughout the whole week; and, in that case, there is no doubt that
the comparison would show greatly in favour of the churches. If,
however, we must confine ourselves to Sunday, the proper question
to ask would be—in how many cases there is a service before, and
another after, noon? The answer, according to Table 16, would be
as follows:—

Churches. Meeting Houses.

(per cent.) (per cent.)
Town districts 85 75
Rural ditto 62 43
Whole country 66 51

If the investigation could be limited to the new accommodation, the

result would strikingly show that the extra outlay on the churches
had in no sense been thrown away.
After all, the number of sittings a religious body can open in the
morning is the real test of its strength. Amongst persons of every
denomination there is a strong feeling that they ought to frequent
their own place of worship in the morning, but in the after part of
the day many persons do not consider themselves called upon to
attend again, or they feel themselves at liberty to visit other
churches or meetings. In short, to speak technically, the morning
service is looked upon by everybody as a service of “obligation,”
while all the rest are regarded as mere services of “devotion.” Now,
of the 5,317,915 sittings belonging to the Church, no fewer than
4,852,645 were actually available on the Census morning. The
remaining 465,270 were almost exclusively in the country, where
one clergyman has still often to serve more than one parish or
chapelry. Cases of this kind have of late years been much
diminished, owing to the operation of the Pluralities Act, and still
more in consequence of the increased zeal, both of the clergy and
the laity. The Bishop of Salisbury stated in his primary charge that
the number of churches in that diocese having two sermons on
Sunday had increased during the episcopate of Dr. Denison (16
years) from 143 to 426; and the number having monthly
communions from 35 to 181. The increase in the number of church
sittings during the past half century may be considered as nett, for
there can be no doubt that nearly all the new buildings have the
double service. At all events, if there are any that have not, they are
more than compensated for by those ancient churches where there
was formerly only one service on the Lord’s Day, but where there are
now two. On the other hand, the Dissenters are not able to open
quite three-fourths of their sittings on the Sunday morning; and as
there is no reason whatever for supposing that their new
accommodation is exempt from this deduction, we may subtract
one-fourth from the gross number assigned in the tables to each
period.
The following table, compiled on the assumption that 58 per cent. of
the population might attend divine worship on any Sunday morning,
will show at a glance the number of sittings really required at each
decennial period, and the real provision made to supply the
deficiency:—

Sittings (open) Furnished by the By Total.

required. Church. dissent.
1801 5,157,671 2,559,345 1,577,143 4,136,488
Increase decennially:—
1811 737,598 55,250 286,407 341,657
1821 1,064,869 96,900 532,998 629,898
1831 1,100,005 276,250 555,239 831,488
1841 1,170,064 667,250 389,323 1,056,573
1851 1,167,807 1,197,650 304,766 1,502,416
Total 5,240,342 2,293,300 2,068,732 4,362,032
increase
Total 10,398,013 4,852,645 3,645,875 8,498,520

Or, exhibiting the same results in a somewhat different form:—

Sittings per 1,000 of Provided by By Total.

population required. Church. Dissent.
1801 580 287 177 464
1811 580 257 183 441
1821 580 225 199 424
1831 580 214 212 426
1841 580 229 209 438
1851 580 270 203 473

Church loss since 1801, 17; Dissenting gain, 26: total Church loss,
43.
Church gain since 1831, 56; Dissenting loss, 9; total Church gain,
65.
This, then, is really the rate at which each body “is advancing in the
path of self extension;” and the best proof of its accuracy is, that it
exactly tallies with what one would have expected beforehand. Mr.
Mann’s tables, on the contrary, are absolutely incredible. We must
never forget, that during the Great Rebellion, Puritanism was
actually the dominant faction; and even at the Restoration it cannot
be supposed that the Dissenters were a small or an uninfluential
class. In 1662 no fewer than 2,000 ministers were ejected under
the new Act of Uniformity; and as at the last census there were only
6405 professional Protestant Ministers, it will be seen that the
ejected preachers alone formed a larger body, in comparison with
the existing population, than the Protestant Dissenting Ministry does
now. It cannot be doubted that every one of those men had a
greater or less following; and it must be remembered that in the
days of the Commonwealth there was always a rabble of sects who
might even then be called Dissenters. It is true that, after the
Restoration, Nonconformity was subjected to severe repressive laws,
but those laws were not enforced with unvarying rigour. In 1672
there was the Indulgence, and in 1681 the House of Commons
passed a strong resolution against the prosecution of Protestant
Dissenters. Besides, after all, the Conventicle Acts only continued in
force about 23 years—not much longer, in fact, than Episcopacy had
been proscribed by law. The natural result which would follow the
famous proclamation of James II., and the subsequent passing of
the Toleration Act, would be a great and sudden revival of Dissent.
How small was the church-feeling of Parliament at the Revolution
may be gathered from a curious fact mentioned in Mr. Macaulay’s
third volume. It was proposed that the Commons should sit on
Easter Monday. The Churchmen vigorously protested against the
innovation; but they did not dare to divide, and the House did sit on
the festival in question. Without at all straining the inference to be
drawn from this incident, it would be difficult, indeed, to suppose
that Churchmen had matters their own way. Even under the penal
laws, the Dissenters must have been a large body; for James the
Second’s scheme for forming a coalition of Roman Catholic and
Protestant Dissenters against the Establishment would have been
stark folly unless the two bodies, when combined, would have made
up, at least, a powerful minority. From the Revolution to 1801 the
Dissenters had more than a century to increase and multiply; and all
the circumstances of the case were in their favour. Worn out by the
political struggles of a century and a half, during which she had been
made the tool of contending factions; deprived of her Legislative
powers; silenced and frowned upon by the powers that were, the
Church had sunk into that fatal lethargy from which the present
generation has only just seen her awake. During that long and
dreary period, all the prominent theologians, with a few bright
exceptions, were either Dissenters or inclined to Dissent. The
eighteenth century, too, was the golden age of popular
Nonconformist preachers. Not to mention a host of smaller names,
Wesley and Whitfield both rose, flourished, and died before its
close. And yet, if we are to believe Mr. Mann, the Dissenters in 1801
were a much smaller body, compared with the whole population,
than they were under the penal laws! [25] On the other hand, all
who remember the obloquy and contempt under which the Church
continued until the passing of the Reform Act, will reject, without a
moment’s hesitation, the notion that, in 1831, she actually
possessed more accommodation, in proportion to the population,
than at the present day. The change which has taken place in the
popular sentiment towards her has not been caused by any
document like this Census report, which suddenly appeared and
disabused the public mind of its preconceived ideas. It has, on the
contrary, been brought about by the silent influence of those
spectacles of zeal and self-denying liberality which have been
witnessed in every corner of the land. The Church has, in fact, lived
down her traducers. A hundred proverbs bear witness to the vast
amount of good deeds which are required to remove an evil
reputation; and yet Mr. Mann calls upon us to believe that the
Establishment has achieved this, although, with all her numbers and
all her wealth, she has not, since 1831, done so much as the
Wesleyan sects alone, towards supplying the people with the means
of religious instruction and worship! One has no language to
characterize such a daring attempt on the public credulity. The most
charitable hypothesis will be to conclude that Mr. Mann, though an
arithmetician by his office, knows nothing about arithmetic; and so
remit him to the consideration of Mr. Roebuck and the Administrative
Reform Society. [26]
The inquiry through which the reader has been invited to travel will
probably suggest several considerations; and first of all the
importance of putting a stop to the statistical nuisance which has of
late years flourished with so rank a growth. Surely it is time that
members of both Houses of Parliament, who resent so jealously any
attempt on the part of Government officials to exceed or fall short of
the precise instructions given them, in making returns, should raise
their voices against the system of publishing with official statistics
the crude, and, as it has been seen, the nonsensical but pernicious
theorizings of the persons entrusted with the task of compiling
reports. Like Mr. Mantalini, the majority of persons never trouble
themselves to examine a numerical process, but content themselves
with simply asking what is the total; and it therefore becomes the
duty of Parliament to see that the unsuspecting confidence of the
public is not abused. The reader must not suppose that the Report
on Religious Worship is the only recent one which is open to
objection. The Census Report on Schools is just as full of fallacies;
and it has certainly been one of the strangest phenomena ever
witnessed in the history of public discussion, that the schemes of
Lord John Russell and Sir John Pakington, assailed as they were on
every side, should have escaped what would, after all, have been
the most effective blow that could have been aimed against them—
the simple but conclusive fact, so easily deducible from the premises
of the Report on Schools, that nearly as many children were under
education as could be induced to attend unless they were driven to
the class of the teacher by the policeman’s staff. [27]
Again, the inquiry will probably satisfy the reader that the anti-
Church legislation of the day ought to proceed no further. It is easy
to assign the cause which in the first instance gave it birth. Most
statesmen, it may be presumed, will be ready to adopt, with regard
to the multifarious sects of modern Christianity, the last clause, at
least, of Gibbon’s famous dictum respecting the ancient religions of
Pagan Rome—“to the people equally true, to the philosopher equally
false, to the magistrate equally useful.” Persons who profess with
sincerity almost any form of Christian doctrine are comparatively
easy to govern; they throw but a light burden upon the poor-rate
and they cost nothing at all in the shape of police. A statesman,
then, might dislike Dissent, but what was he to say to a state of
things like that revealed in the Census report? The Church,
according to Mr. Mann’s tables, could not, by dint of the utmost
exertions she is ever likely to put forth, find accommodation for half
the souls who are year by year added to the population. On the
other hand the Dissenters, who are far less wealthy, and have few
endowments, provide without difficulty and without fuss more than
twice the amount of new accommodation supplied by the Church.
The irresistible inference in the mind of a mere statesman would be
that Dissent ought to be aided and encouraged. But if it turns out
that the facts are precisely the reverse of what has been represented
—if in reality Dissent is making no progress, while the Church is
providing new accommodation sufficient for the whole of the new
population—why should the Legislature go out of its path to foster
mere religious discord, and to impede the spread of what the
country has, after all, long since recognised as the “more excellent
way.” Why, for instance, should Churchrates be abolished? If they
were right in 1831, when there were more Dissenters and fewer
Churchmen, why are they wrong now? If Parliament has conferred
upon parishes, as a boon, the right to tax themselves (if a majority
of the ratepayers think fit) for the purpose of building and
maintaining public baths, museums, and libraries, why should
parishes now be deprived of a right which they possessed before
there was a Chancellor of the Exchequer or a budget—before the
Norman set foot upon our shores, or there was a House of
Commons worthy of the name—the right to tax themselves in order
to maintain edifices which may be museums second in interest to
none, and which may have been centres of enlightenment long
before the days of Caxton and Guttenberg?
There is another view of the case which ought not to be overlooked
by statesmen who regard a religious Establishment as a mere matter
of police. Granting that Dissent teaches men to be neither
drunkards nor thieves, is it calculated to make them as good citizens
and as good neighbours as the Church? The answer must surely be
a negative. The common consent of mankind has pronounced the
famous descriptions of the old Puritans in “Hudibras” to be almost as
applicable to modern Dissenters as to their ancient prototypes. Nor,
indeed, would it be easy, if they were not, to account for the
popularity of Butler’s oft-quoted lines; for even just satires, to say
nothing of unjustifiable lampoons, rarely survive the persons against
whom they are directed. Of course, men are often much better than
the system to which they belong. There are hundreds—nay,
thousands—of Dissenters whose Dissent is a mere accident of birth
and education, and who are truly catholic at heart; but of Dissent in
the abstract, no one who has either studied its history or is
acquainted with its practical working will deny the applicability to it
not only of Butler’s portraiture, but of another yet more famous
description, qualified in the latter case, however, with the insertion
or omission throughout of the important word—“not.” Dissent
suffers not long, and is not kind—Dissent is envious—behaves itself
unseemly—vaunts itself, and is puffed up—seeks every tittle of its
“rights”—is easily provoked—thinks evil—gloats over every slip on
the part of its opponents—attributes what is good in them to a
wrong motive—will bear nothing of which it can rid itself by agitation
or clamour—will put a good construction upon nothing when an evil
one is possible—hopes nothing—endures nothing. If this were not
so, how would it be possible to account for its inveterate propensity
to internal schism? The scriptural account of the Kingdom of Heaven
is that it should grow as from a seed; but Dissent is propagated
chiefly by cuttings. It is not yet two hundred years since the Kirk
was established in Scotland, and yet there are no fewer than six
sorts of Presbyterians. The case of Wesleyanism is still worse.
Within sixty years after the death of its founder it had split into
seven antagonistic sects. Whitfield himself quarrelled with Wesley,
and his followers have, since his death, separated into two bodies.
There are four sorts of Baptists. Of the Independents, Mr. Mann
speaks with refreshing innocence as forming “a compact and
undivided body.” It would be nearer the truth to say that they
consist of nearly as many sects as there are meeting-houses. Nearly
every congregation is of volcanic origin, and every one contains
within it elements which might at any moment explode and shatter
the whole concern.
That the writer may not be thought to be unsupported by facts, he
will here summarize the history of Anabaptistic and Congregational
Dissent in the first town to the annals of which he has ready access
—Nottingham, his authority being Mr. Wylie’s local history, published
in 1853. Nottingham, however, is a remarkably good example for
the purpose. It has a manufacturing population of 57,000, having
doubled itself since 1801. It is almost at the head of those places in
which Dissent is most rampant, and the Church most depressed. It
possessed, according to Mr. Mann’s table K, 35.2 Dissenting sittings
to every hundred inhabitants, the only other places equal or superior
to it in that respect being Merthyr Tydvil (52.4), Sunderland (35.2),
Rochdale (36.5), and Swansea (42.8). It boasts of 74.1 per cent. of
the whole religious accommodation within its boundaries, the only
places having more being Merthyr (89.7), and Rochdale (78.7).

About the middle of the last century, then, the Presbyterian

congregation on the High Pavement adopted Socinian tenets;
and many families thereupon left it and joined a small
congregation of Calvinistic Independents in Castle-gate. Their
meeting-house was immediately enlarged, and it has ever since
been considered the leading Dissenting place of worship. In
1761, a second secession from High Pavement, this time of
Sabellians, built themselves a new meeting-house in Halifax-
place. In 1801, they erected themselves a new building in St.
Mary’s-gate, which has long since been closed. In 1798, a third
swarm, again Calvinistic Independents, left High Pavement, and
settled in the Halifax-place meeting-house, vacated by their
Sabellian predecessors. In 1819, they built themselves a new
meeting-house, called “Zion Chapel,” in Fletcher-gate, the old
one being now a school. In 1822, a secession from Castle-gate
built a new meeting-house in St. James’s-street; and six years
later a secession from St. James’s-street built a meeting-house
 in Friar-lane. In 1804, a secession from Zion Chapel erected
“Hephzibah Chapel,” which being in debt, was sold to the
Universalists in 1808, and was soon afterwards converted into a
National School. In 1828, another secession from “Zion Chapel”
erected a meeting called “Bethesda Chapel.”
The General Baptists at first met in a disused Wesleyan
meeting-house, called “The Tabernacle,” which has long since
been pulled down. In 1799 they built themselves a place in
Stoney-street. In 1817 a quarrel arose between Mr. Smith, the
senior pastor, and his junior, of whose pulpit talents he was said
to be jealous. The congregation dismissed them both, and
appointed a Mr. George. On Sunday, the 3rd of August, in the
same year, there was a personal conflict after the Donnybrook
manner, between the partisans of Smith and George. The
friends of Smith being beaten drew off, and built themselves a
meeting-house in Broad-street. In 1850 there was another
secession from Stoney-street, who built themselves a meeting-
house on the Mansfield-road.
The Particular Baptists originally occupied an ancient meeting-
house in Park-street: but in 1815 they built themselves a larger
place in George-street. In 1847 there was a secession of extra-
Particulars. These met first in a room in Clinton-street, then in
an old building which had been disused by the Quakers, and
finally, in a splendid gothic edifice, which they built for
themselves on Derby-road. The old meeting-house in Park-
street fell into the hands of a congregation of the Scotch variety
of the sect, whose peace has only been disturbed by the
Bethesdians, who joined them in 1828, until they decided upon
setting up for themselves.

Thus it will be seen that of the nine new congregations enumerated

above, not one was originated without a quarrel—a quarrel, too, of
the worst kind, a personal one. Nobody can study the history of
religious polemics without perceiving that the root of all that
bitterness which has made the odium theologicum a proverb, is to
be found in the tendency there is in men to transfer the indignation
they might reasonably feel against error, from the error itself to
those who hold it. If people would only consent to forget history
and would conduct the argument upon purely abstract principles,
even the Roman controversy might be made instructive and edifying;
but somehow, before long, the debate wanders away from the truth
or falsehood of the creed under discussion to that most irrelevant of
all issues, the virtues or failings of those by whom it is professed.
What shall we say, then, of a system which gives rise to
controversies which, from their commencement to their close, are
purely personal? Lest it should be supposed that the case of
Nottingham is an isolated instance, here is an extract on which the
writer stumbled the other day in a tract written in praise of
Congregationalism, and stated on the title page to be “commended
by J. Bennett, D.D.” It appears to be quoted from a work called
“The Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge,” and the scene of the
incident is stated to be “one of the principal cities of the United
States:”—

A Baptist congregation, originally small, had increased so rapidly

that an enlargement of the chapel became necessary. It was
immediately effected. The congregation still continued to
increase, and a second time it became necessary to enlarge.
Everything still going on prosperously, a third enlargement,
some time after, was proposed. The noble-minded pastor,
however, thinking that he had already as much on his hands as
any mere mortal could conscientiously discharge, with a
generous contempt for his own interests, opposed this step, and
suggested that they should exert themselves to raise a new
interest, entirely independent of the old one. The people
entered cheerfully into his design; nay, they made a nobler
sacrifice than that of their money. For as soon as the new
building was finished, one of the deacons, with a few of the
most respectable members of the old church, voluntarily
separated from it, and proceeded to form the infant colony that
 had branched off from the mother church. What is still more
delightful, the two churches formed a common fund for the
erection of a third chapel. This was soon accomplished. In a
short time a large and flourishing church was the result; and, at
the time our informant related this fact, all three churches were
actually subscribing towards a fourth chapel. This is noble
conduct. Who can tell how soon cities and towns might be
evangelised, if this principle were sternly (!) acted upon? A
somewhat similar fact has, we understand, been recently
witnessed in a city of our own country, where some
congregational churches have imitated their Baptist brethren of
America. When will all ministers “go and do likewise?”

This is truly edifying and amusing. First of all, mark the habitat of
this Nonconformist phœnix, a congregation which has actually given
birth to another without a preliminary quarrel. We must actually
cross the Atlantic, and seek the phenomenon in the land where the
penny-a-liner places his sea-serpents, and his other choicer
wonders. To increase without envy, hatred, and uncharitableness is,
it seems, to a Dissenter, something inexpressibly “noble”—and
brotherly love is something that must be “sternly” acted upon! We
may be quite certain that it is something the congregational sects
very rarely see, or it would not throw them into such lamentable,
and yet, in some sense, ludicrous contortions of surprise.
Perhaps some Dissenter will be whispering, after the manner of Mr.
Roebuck, the three words, Gorham, Liddell, Denison; but the tu
quoque wholly fails. In the first place, it is the surprising peculiarity
of the present Church controversies that the noisiest, if not the
weightiest, disputants are not Churchmen at all. In the next place,
those who are Churchmen, and enter with any bitterness into the
strife, are remarkable neither for their number nor their influence.
The great party in the Church of England is, after all, the middle
party; and however fierce the cannonade which the extreme left,
and its allies outside the pale, may direct against the extreme right,
their missiles fly harmlessly over the vast body which lies between.
The truth is, the recent outburst of controversy, so far as the Church
herself is responsible for it, is nothing but the natural recoil of that
conservative sentiment which must always be a powerful feeling in a
religious community, from doctrines and usages which had become
unfamiliar. As the unfamiliarity passes away, the controversy will
also gradually cease. Already the doctrines and usages in question
have been unconsciously adopted by many of those who fancy
themselves most opposed to them; and, indeed, if our doughtiest
combatants would only take pains to understand what it is their
antagonists really hold, they would often find that they are fighting
against mere shadows. The recent suits in the ecclesiastical courts
cannot but open the eyes of Churchmen to the extreme tenuity of
the points in dispute. Take the S. Barnabas case. Everybody will
remember the language which was applied to the “practices” revived
by Mr. Bennett. “Popish,” “histrionic,” “mummery,” were the mildest
terms in the repertory of that gentleman’s assailants. Those
“practices” remain to this day—if anything, they have been
elaborated rather than subjected to any mitigating process. Messrs.
Westerton and Beal bring the matter before the proper tribunal; but
what are the only issues they can find to raise? Such notable
questions as whether the cross, which glitters on the crown, the orb,
and sceptre of the Sovereign, which glows on the national banner,
which crowns almost every church gable in the land, with which
every Churchman is marked at his baptism, which the very Socinians
place upon their buildings, is, forsooth, a lawful ornament?—whether
a table ceases to be a table by being made of stone?—whether the
altar which has never been moved these two hundred years, and
which nobody wants to move, must nevertheless be movable?—
whether the altar vestments and the “fair linen cloths” used during
Communion time, may have fringes, or must be plain-hemmed?
Even if Dr. Lushington’s judgment should eventually be confirmed, if
in this age of schools of design, Mr. Westerton’s crusade against art
should prove successful, the alterations that would be made at S.
Barnabas would be discernible by none out the keenest eyes—so
little can there be found in matters ritual to fight about. Even in the
Denison case the points of difference are almost as infinitesimal. It
is true that under the revived act of Elizabeth—compared with which
the laws of Draco seem a mild and considerate code—the
Archdeacon has been sentenced to lose his preferments; but his
doctrine on the Real Presence has, in sober fact, never been so
much as challenged. His opponents, passing over all that was
material in his propositions, have only attacked a quasi corollary
which he has added to his main position, but which is, in reality, a
complete non-sequitur. Whether Dr. Lushington is right or wrong, it
is clear that a person holding the dogma of transubstantiation itself
might, with perfect logical consistency, accept the ruling of the
Court.
The differences between the highest and the lowest schools being so
impalpable, it would seem absurd to suppose that the present
controversies can have a much longer continuance. But whether
that be so or not, there is a very important distinction (and one that
is well worth the notice of statesmen) between the extension of the
Church and the spread of Dissent. Church extension, as far as it
goes, tends to compose differences. The consecration of a new
church is almost invariably regarded as an occasion when party
differences should be laid aside—the opening of a new meeting-
house is too commonly the crowning act of an irreparable schism.
Another lesson which the report of Mr. Mann ought to teach
Churchmen is the necessity there is for insisting upon the next
religious census being made a complete and accurate one. The next
religious census ought to include all such institutions as colleges,
workhouses, hospitals, and the like—it ought to be enforced by the
same penalties as the civil census; and it ought to be understood
that all the returns would be printed in a blue book. With these
precautions the Church need not fear the result. Even if the census
of 1861 should prove no more trustworthy than that of 1851, it will
remove a great deal of the misconceptions to which the latter has
given rise. As far as one may judge, the work of church extension is
progressing just as rapidly now as it was ten years ago; the number
of the clergy is just as rapidly augmenting; [33] and as all additional
clergymen have now to be supported on the voluntary principle, we
may presume that they follow the ordinary laws of supply and
demand. We may, therefore, confidently expect that the number of
church sittings open on the census morning in 1861 will not be
fewer than six millions; and if there be an average attendance
(which there was not on the last occasion) the number of persons
present will be about three millions and a half. That the Dissenters
will be able to open any more sittings than in 1851, is doubtful; for it
must be remembered that since 1841 the Church has been annually
absorbing a population equal to the entire yearly increase. But
allowing them the same increase as has been assigned to them for
the decade 1841–51, they will not be able to open more than four
million sittings, and they will not have more than two millions and a
half of attendants. This estimate is formed on the supposition that
the next census will be made on the voluntary principle like the last.
If a more complete and accurate account is taken, the result may be
very different. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that the
number of church attendants may turn out to be near four millions,
while that of the Dissenters may not much exceed two.
Looking at all the facts of the case, there is every reason why the
Church should take courage. Never since the Reformation has she
had so much real power for good—never has she been so free from
abuses. Each year sees thousands returning to the fold from which
they or their parents had strayed; each year sees her enemies more
and more “dwindle, peak, and pine.” Everything, too, points to a
daily acceleration of the process. At the very time that Convocation
is resuming its functions, the Non-conformist Union is compelled by
internal dissentions to abandon their yearly meeting. What Mr. Miall
calls “the dissidence of dissent”—that is to say, all in it that is pre-
eminently narrow-minded, ignorant, and infected with bigotry—is
concentrating itself, and is thus getting free the more respectable
elements of modern non-conformity. Meanwhile the better class of
Dissenters are doing all in their power to cut the ground from under
their own feet. They are building “steeple-houses,” inventing
liturgies, and adopting even choral services; in other words they are
expressing in the most emphatic manner their opinion that the
whole theory of dissent is wrong. For a short time a Brummagem
ecclesiology may satisfy them; but in the end they will no doubt rank
themselves amongst the best sons of the Church. The truth is, there
is no other religious community at the present day which can bid so
high for the reverent attachment of Englishmen. Whatever the
claims of Rome—her antiquity, her catholicity, her apostolicity—they
are equally the Church of England’s. Her succession of bishops is
the same, her regard for the primitive church greater, her conception
of Christendom far more grand. The glories of the ancient rituals
belong equally to the Book of Common Prayer. It contains nothing
material which was not in them, there was nothing material in them
(save only certain invocations and legends of the saints) which is not
in it. The Prayer Book is, in fact, nothing but a translation
(magnificently done) of the older offices, a little compressed and
simplified. The structure is the same—the mode of using it the
same; and if it has lost somewhat of the multiplied ceremonies
which were anciently observed, it has gained far more in the majesty
and breadth which it has acquired from its thoroughly congregational
character. Besides, it is throughout a reality, whereas the office
books of the Latin Communion have, to some extent at least,
become a sham. Thus the Breviary has long since been practically
abolished as a public form of prayer, and even as a manual of private
devotions for the clergy, that which forms its staple, the Book of
Psalms, has been virtually reduced to a fourth its bulk. In nearly a
thousand churches belonging to the Anglican communion the whole
Psalter is publicly recited every month, and in twenty times that
number it is said through twice every year.
If Protestant Dissenters boast of their enlightenment or of their
reverence for Scripture, the Church may meet them on that ground
likewise with the utmost confidence. The Prayer-book scarcely
recognises a person to be a Churchman if he cannot read; and she
directs some forty psalms and some thirty chapters of the Bible to be
gone through every week. In a word, approach the Church of
England from the most opposite points, and she will be found to
possess exactly that attribute which a person might think is most
admirable. The man who reverences antiquity—who has a taste for
art—who has a passion for ritual—who would have everything
“understanded of the people,”—he who insists upon ranks and
orders—and he who stands up for popular rights, will equally find in
the Church of this country the very quality which he deems
important. Never was there any institution so “many-sided;” never
one that became with so much success “all things to all men.” How
she could ever have lost her hold on the affections of Englishmen is
indeed wonderful; but, in truth, until lately, she has never had a
chance of making herself understood. Now, for the first time, her
theory is beginning to be appreciated; and the success which has
attended her, wonderful as it has been, is probably but the foretaste
of a future more brilliant than anything of which we can now form
an idea.
 FOOTNOTES.

[11] The above tables, it is right to say, have been obtained by

subtracting Mr. Mann’s tables relating to the Church from the tables
relating to places of worship in the aggregate.
[19] It is right to say that the decennial periods do not exactly
agree. In Mr. Mann’s tables they are from 1801–11, &c.; in Mr.
Bright’s return, from 1800–10, &c. It is not, however, apprehended
that this circumstance would materially affect the calculation.
[25] Neale estimates the Nonconformists, in the time of Charles II.,
at a hundred and fifty thousand families, or three quarters of a
million persons; in other words, at about a sixth of the population.
If the Dissenters had in 1801 only 881,240 sittings, their number of
morning attendants would be considerably less than 400,000; and,
allowing each attendant to represent three persons, that would give
a Dissenting population of about 1,100,000.
[26] The faculty of reasoning correctly in figures is not so ordinary
an accomplishment as might have been supposed. Even so
intelligent a writer as Mr. Henry Mayhew prints, at page 391 of his
“Great World of London,” a table, of which the following is a
specimen:—

1842. Can neither Can read

read nor only (percent)
write (percent).
Convicted at assizes and sessions 39.79 27.21
 Convicted—summarily 39.90 21.65
Average 39.84 24.43

—the average being found by adding together the two lines and
dividing the sum by two. It need hardly, however, be pointed out
that the result so arrived at could not be true unless the number of
persons in each class was exactly the same. A man who had
invested in the Great Western Railway £900 which yielded him two
per cent., and £100 in the South Western which paid him six, might
say, on Mr. Mayhew’s principle, that he had invested £1000 at 4 per
cent; but he would soon find out that he would have to receive only
£24 for his yearly dividend instead of £40—£2.8 percent. instead of
£4.
[27] Mr. Mann calculates that without in the least interfering with
juvenile labour, and without questioning the discretion of parents
who kept children between the ages of 3 and 5 and 12 and 15 at
home, there ought to have been more than three million children at
school in 1851. It would be easy to show that this estimate is based
upon nothing better than a series of blunders and bad guesses, but
there is a much shorter mode of dealing with it. The children of the
middle and upper classes do not remain under professional
instructors at home or at school for a longer average period than six
years. Now, the total number of children in 1851 between the ages
of 4 and 10 was 2,484,866, or 13.8 per cent. of the entire
population. The number actually on the school books was
2,200,000, or 12.2 per cent. So that either all the children in the
country were at school, but the average time was one-eighth too
short; or the average time was of the right length, but the number
of scholars was one-eighth too few. The truth, of course, lay
somewhere between these two alternatives. Since 1851
considerable progress has no doubt been made; but it unfortunately
turns out that the effect of improved machinery is not to improve the
general education, but merely to shorten the time allotted to
schooling. It is found that if by better modes of tuition a child can
be made sooner to acquire what its parents think sufficient for it to
know, it is only so much the sooner taken away. It would therefore
be vain to expect that the school per centage will ever be much
higher than it was in 1851—at least, until the middle classes raise
their own standard. Of the children on the schoolbooks in 1851, the
per centage of actual daily attendants was 83—91 for the private,
and 79 for the public scholar. In America, where the schools are
wholly free, the per centage was still less. In Massachusetts, for
example, it was only 75. In other words, the attendance in England
and Wales in 1851 was 1,826,000 daily. If the 2,200,000 had all
been private scholars, it would have been 2,002,000. On the other
hand if there had been 2,400,000 free scholars, it would only have
been 1,800,000. These figures will speak for themselves.
[33] The number of additional clergy ordained every year is stated
to be 300. The number required to maintain the proportion of clergy
to population which existed in 1851 would be under 200.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUTH ABOUT
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