261·1346 ... A’s share £261.2.8¼
84·1231 ...B’s...84.2.5¾
166·3697 ...C’s...166.7.4¾
511·6274   £511.2.6¾

If ever the fraction of a farthing be wanted, remember that the coinage-result is larger than the decimal of a pound, when we use only three places. From 1000 times the decimal take 4 per cent, and we get the exact number of farthings, and we need only look at the decimal then left to set the preceding right. Thus, in

134·6  123·1  369·7 
  5·38  4·92 14·79
·22·18·91

we see that (if we use four decimals only) the pence of the above results are nearly 8d. ·22 of a farthing, 5½d. ·18, and 4½d. ·91.

A man can pay £2376. 4. 4½, his debts being £3293. 11. 0¾. How much per cent can he pay, and how much in the pound?

APPENDIX VII.
ON THE MAIN PRINCIPLE
OF BOOK-KEEPING.

A brief notice of the principle on which accounts are kept (when they are properly kept) may perhaps be useful to students who are learning book-keeping, as the treatises on that subject frequently give too little in the way of explanation.

Any person who is engaged in business must desire to know accurately, whenever an investigation of the state of his affairs is made.

1, What he had at the commencement of the account, or immediately after the last investigation was made; 2, What he has gained and lost in the interval in all the several branches of his business; 3, What he is now worth. From the first two of these things he obviously knows the third. In the interval between two investigations, he may at any one time desire to know how any one account stands.