Page:Philosophy and Fun of Algebra.djvu/20

PHILOSOPHY AND FUN OF ALGEBRA Algebra about anything except number. This is a complete mistake. We make an Algebra whenever we arrange facts that we know round a centre which is a statement of what it is that we want to know and do not know; and then proceed to deal logically with all the statements, including the statement of our own ignorance.

Algebra can be made about anything which any human being wants to know about. Everybody ought to be able to make Algebras; and the sooner we begin the better. It is best to begin before we can talk; because, until we can talk, no one can get us into illogical habits; and it is advisable that good logic should get the start of bad.

If you have a baby brother, it would be a nice amusement for you to teach him to make Algebra when he is about ten months or a year old. And now I will tell you how to do it.

Sometimes a baby, when it sees a bright metal tea-pot, laughs and crows and wants to play with the baby reflected in the metal. It has learned, by what is called "empirical experience," that tea-pots are nice cool things to handle. Another baby, 16