Page:Philosophy and Fun of Algebra.djvu/24

PHILOSOPHY AND FUN OF ALGEBRA Or we might write down something of this kind:—

The values cannot be known. There is no answer to our problem.

We might write:—

and accept those as answers and give them forth to the world with all the authority which is given by big print, wide margins, a handsome binding, and a publisher in a large way of business; and so make a great many foolish people believe we are very wise.

Some people call this way of settling things Philosophy; others call it arrogant conceit. Whatever it is, it is not Algebra. The Algebra way of managing is this:—

We say: Suppose that x were Unity (1); what would become of y and z? Then we write out our problem as before; only that, wherever there was x, we now write 1. 20