What I felt the want of was a short Treatise, to be used as a Text Book after the Sixth Book of Euclid had been learned and some knowledge of Algebra acquired, which should contain satisfactory demonstrations of the propositions to be used in teaching Junior Students the Solution of Triangles, and should at the same time lay a solid foundation for the study of Analytical Trigonometry.
This want I have attempted to supply by applying, in the first Chapter, Newton's Method of Limits to the mensuration of circular arcs and areas; choosing that method both because it is the strictest and the easiest, and because I think the Mathematical Student should be early introduced to the method.
The succeeding Chapters are devoted to an exposition of the nature of the Trigonometrical ratios, and to the demonstration by geometrical constructions of the principal propositions required for the Solution of Triangles. To these I have added a general explanation of the applications of these propositions in Trigonometrical Surveying:
concluded with a proof of the formul_ for the sine and cosine of the sum of two angles treated (as it seems to me they should be) as examples of the Elementary Theory of Projection. Having learned thus much the Student has gained a knowledge of Trigonometry as originally understood, and may apply his knowledge in Surveying; and he has also reached a point from which he may advance into Analytical Trigonometry and its use in Natural Philosophy.