The Council has to deplore the removal by death of three of the members of the Association during the past year. Mr. E. Budclen was a useful member whose name will be familiar to readers of the Gazette, to which he was a regular contributor of notes and reviews. He was ever ready to give up part of the leisure of a busy life to work for the Gazette; indeed, at the time of his painfully sudden and unexpected death he had reviews for the Gazette in hand. Mr. J. C. Palmer was for some years a helpful member of the Council, and attended its meetings and the general meetings of the Association with unfailing regularity It is many years since the late Lord Kelvin conferred distinction upon the Association by accepting its honorary membership. Although he took no active part in the special work of the Association, yet its endeavours to promote better methods of teaching elementary mathematics had his silent sympathy and approval.

1. It is very desirable that the subjects of examination for Mathematical Entrance Scholarships at Cambridge and Oxford should admit of the same course of preparation.

2. In order to allow of a broader syllabus the exercises and riders should be simplified.

3. Questions on elementary bookwork ought not to be entirely omitted.

Restricting bookwork questions to the higher bookwork would encourage the neglect of the more elementary parts, which are of at least equal importance.

What is the use of mathematics?

There are many parents who would find it extremely difficult to answer this question, and if they attempted to give an answer, they would in many cases repeat what appears to be a widespread current belief, namely, that mathematics is of no use in itself, but that a school course in the subject affords valuable mental training and develops the brain.

If this were all that could be said in favour of mathematics, a strong case could be made out for the rival claims of philately to be included in the curricula of our schools and universities. The intelligent study of a collection of postage stamps may be made of greater educational value than the unintelligent manipulation of mere meaningless collections of algebraic symbols. The detection of watermarks and the measurement of perforations may be used to afford valuable mental training, and are well calculated to develop a child’s powers of observation and accurate measurement.

The following discussion may be of interest on account of the way in which it leads to the axial and focal properties.

I. Let the locus of a point P such that A(CDEP) = B(CDEP), where A, B, C, D, E are fixed points, be called the conic (AB, CDE). Then it is clear that permuting A, B or C, D, E does not affect the conic, and that the conic passes through C, D, E, and also through A, B. (Give BP the four positions BC, BD, BE, BA and then give AP the position AB.)