THE MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS, PROPOSED IN THE LADIES' DIARY, AND THEIR ORIGINAL ANSWERS, TOGETHER WITH SOME NEW SOLUTIONS, FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT IN THE YEAR 1704 TO 1816. IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY THOMAS LEYBOURN, OF THE ROYAL MILITARY COllege. VOL. I. London: PRINTED BY W. GLENDINNING, HATTON GARDEN; AND PUBLISHED BY J. MAWMAN, LUDGATE STREET PREFACE. THE Ladies' Diary having been published annually, in the form of an Almanack, for more than a century past; it must, at all times, have been difficult, and, indeed, during the latter part of that period, next to impossible, to obtain a complete copy of the work. This circumstance induced the ingenious and learned gentleman that has superintended it for the last fortyfour years (Dr. Charles Hutton, Emeritus Professor of the Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich) to re-publish every thing either curious or valuable, that had appeared in it from its commencement to the year 1773, at which period he became the Editor. Dr. Hutton's edition of the Diaries has, however, been out of print for many years, and is now seldom to be procured; and even if it could be had, forty-four more Diaries are now required to complete the work, so that the difficulty of obtaining a perfect set is as great as ever. On this account, and with a view to gratify such as are anxious to possess what may be considered as a curious, and valuable monument, of the Mathematical genius of the English nation, the Mathematical questions and their answers are here republished, but the a |