Many a parent who confidently sits down at the parlor lamp to help his offspring tackle his homework finds that he has attempted more than he can handle. Published last week in Philadelphia was a convenient 236-page treatise, Algebra for Parents* calculated to save elders considerable embarrassment when asked to explain anything from simple addition to the binomial theorem. It was as ingratiating, discursive, and adroit as its author, a 59-year-old Philadelphia lawyer named Samuel Bryan Scott.
Philadelphians know tall, grey Lawyer Scott as the senior partner in the firm of Scott &...