Background
He was born on October 6, 1743 at Somersworth, New Hampshire, United States, the son of Rev. James and Sarah (Gilman) Pike, and a descendant of John Pike who emigrated from Landford, England, to Massachusetts in 1635.
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book
A New and Complete System of Arithmetick: Composed for the Use of the Citizens of the United States
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Nicolas Pike
Edit ProfileEducation
Nicolas graduated from Harvard College in 1766, and later received the degree of A. M. there.
Career
For many years he was master of the Newburport grammar school, occupying that position at least as early as 1773. He also conducted a private evening school (1774 - 86) and for a time, a school for young ladies. He was town clerk of Newburyport from March 14, 1776 to 1780, served as selectman in 1782-83, and for a considerable period was justice of the peace.
Pike's fame rests chiefly upon his treatise, A New and Complete System of Arithmetick, Composed for the Use of the Citizens of the United States (1788). In the year 1793 he published a smaller work, Abridgement of the New and Complete System of Arithmetick, Composed for the Use, and Adapted to the Commerce of the Citizens of the United States. Pike was able to secure, also, the hearty recommendations of the work by the presidents of Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth, several of their professors of mathematics, and Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts. Even Washington gave a guarded recommendation when a copy was sent to him.
The author's confidence in the value of his work was evidenced by the fact that he registered as author in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York, such registration serving as copyright notice. His confidence was fully justified, for the original work went through eight editions, and the Abridgement continued to appear until 1830.
He also edited, 1794, Daniel Fenning's The Ready Reckoner or the Trader's Useful Assistant. He died in 1819.
Achievements
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Nicolas Pike was the first American arithmetician to attain wide popularity in the field of school textbooks. In his arithmetics the orderly presentation of the subject to children is stressed, the Federal money (then new) is given adequate treatment, and the applications of arithmetic to business are well indicated. His most famous work A New and Complete System of Arithmetick was an admirable effort, furnishing excellent material in geometry and trigonometry; the abridged edition was particularly well suited to instruction in elementary schools. In these textbooks Pike made an enduring contribution to American education.
Works
book
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A New and Complete System of Arithmetick: Composed for the Use of the Citizens of the United States
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
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A New and Complete System of Arithmetick: Composed for the Use of the Citizens of the United States
Membership
On August 20, 1788, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Connections
He married in Newburyport, Massachussets, Hannah Smith, and between January 1, 1769, and January 7, 1778, five sons were born to them. Hannah died July 7, 1778, and on January 9 of the following year Pike married Eunice Smith, by whom he had one son.
