Two papers by Lewis Carroll:
DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge (‘Lewis Carroll’). “Abridged Long Division”, in Nature, page 269-271, in the weekly issue for 20 January 1898 composed of pp 265-288, with the original outer wrappers (including cover and 7pp of ads), and removed from a larger bound volume. It is here that Carroll announces (in a long 3pp letter to the editor) his implementation of a new algorithm for division–it makes the process longer and more difficult, unfortunately. Provenance: library rubber stamp of the “Smithsonian Institution, Astrophysical Observatory”. There are shadows of two old vertical folds that run run the issue. A Good copy. $150
AND:
_____. “Abridged long division”, Nature 57, 269-271; “Brief method of dividing a given number by 9 or 11”, Nature volume 56, October 14, 1897. pp 565-566 in the weekly issue of pp 561-584. Offered is the original weekly issue, removed from a larger bound volume, in Very Good condition. $75
I am probably not understanding this wonderful effort by the dead Lewis Carroll, establishing a new algorithm for doing long division. It came into view while I was looking for a paper in Nature by A.A. Michelson on his analog computer, the harmonic analyzer, a fantastic device that he used to help measure the speed of light back in 1898. Carroll (as Dodgson) appeared just a few pages away; his obituary appears not much after the division article, thus making the paper the last of his career here on Earth.
It is a very interesting effort, and it perhaps is even brilliant and of a wonderful construct, but the bottom line is that it makes the process of division harder to do–perhaps it is mire understandable as a process, but the process itself is decidedly not a preferred one. Perhaps it is appropriate for his last work to have been on mathematics, since the majority of his 20 published books relate to mathematics or logic.
Notes
1. The article is abstracted here, a few weeks after publication:
Article abstract: Nature 57, 390-391 (24 February 1898), “Abridged Long Division” abstracted by ROBT. W. D. CHRISTI:
“HAVING been working on similar lines for some years, I was very much interested in the late Mr. Dodgson’s letter on abridged division in NATURE of January 20, and I should like to offer a few observations and to give a variation of the method which appears much simpler. It will be admitted that Mr. Dodgson’s plan is of limited application, and rather complicated for general use. There is nothing to hinder the method given below from being universally used, though it may not in all cases be the shortest. It also has the merit, I think, of directness and uniformity.”
2. This is one of three publications of Carroll’s mathematical works that appeared in Nature, being “Abridged long division”, Nature 57, 269-271; “Brief method of dividing a given number by 9 or 11”, Nature 56, 565-566; “Pillow problems. Curiosa mathematica. Part II”, Nature XLVIII. 564.