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Edinburgh Mathematical Notes

The journal began with No 1 in April 1909. Entitled "Mathematical Notes", the journal had as a subtitle "A Review of Elementary Mathematics and Science". Below the title appears: "Published by the Edinburgh Mathematical Society", and "Edited by P PInkerton, George Watson's College, Edinburgh." The contents of this first part are as follows:
Graphical Treatment of Geometrical Progressions
By John Dougall, M.A., D. Sc.

Oral and Written Work in Arithmetic
By W G Fraser, M.A.

Dynamics as a School Subject
By W Anderson, M.A.

Quadratic Equations
By P Pinkerton, M.A.

The Theorem of Pythagoras
By Professor Gibson
The only instruction for authors was:
All contributions and communications referring to "Mathematical Notes" should be addressed to P Pinkerton, George Watson's College, Edinburgh.
The following are the dates of the first few parts:
No 1 April 1909
No 2 July 1909
No 3 December 1909
No 4 April 1910
No 5 July 1910
No 6 December 1910
No 7 April 1911
No 8 October 1911
No 9 January 1912
No 10 May 1912
No 11 October 1912
No 12 January 1913
In this January 1913 part the following information is added:-
The Annual Subscription to the Edinburgh Mathematical Society is 7s 6d for ordinary members, who receive copies of Mathematical Notes and also of the Proceedings of the Society. Any desiring to become members should apply to the Hon. Sec. P Comrie, M.A., B.Sc., 19 Craighouse Terrace, Edinburgh.
Pages were numbered (1), (2), ... continuing the numbering through the parts. Further parts appeared with the numbering continuing:
No 13 May 1913
No 14 October 1913
No 15 January 1914
In the January 1914 part P Pinkerton's address is given as High School, Glasgow. One further part was edited by Pinkerton, namely No 16 May 1914, then the editor became G D C Stokes, M.A., D.Sc., High School, Glasgow for No 17 January 1915. After editing No 18 May 1915, the next part, No 19 December 1915, appears without the name of any editor. There is a note:
Owing to the absence of the editor on military duty, all contributions and communications referring to "Mathematical Notes" should be addressed to the Hon. Secretary, 19 Craighouse Terrace, Edinburgh.
No 20 April 1916 has the same information as the previous part, as does No 21 December 1916 except that the Hon. Secretary had become P Ramsay, M.A., B.Sc., 63 Comiston Drive, Edinburgh. By the end of No 21 the numbering had reached page (254).

At this point there is a gap in publishing the Mathematical Notes, with the next part No 22 May 1924 with Peter Ramsay as editor. The Hon. Secretary of the Society was given as Bevan B Baker, M.A.. D.Sc., F.R.S.E., Mathematical Department, Edinburgh University, and the annual subscription to the Society was increased from 7s 6d to 10s. The next part No 23 June 1925 gives the Hon. Secretary of the Society as E T Copson, B.A., F.R.S.E., Mathematical Department, Edinburgh University. Both parts No 22 and No 23 have pages numbered from (1).

No further parts were produced until No 24 January 1929. A note was attached to this part:-
This is the first part of Mathematical Notes to be issued since 1925. It is on the same size of page as the Proceedings, but has separate Roman pagination, so that the two may, if wished, be bound together.
We should remark that The Second Series of the Proceedings started in 1927 with a larger page size. The Mathematical Notes, which had a page size identical to the First Series of the Proceedings, was changed to keep a matching page size. The editor was now A C Aitken, M.A., D.Sc. The next parts of the Mathematical Notes, together with the editor for that part, are:
No 25 January 1930; William Arthur, M.A.
No 26 October 1930; William Arthur, M.A.
No 27 June 1932; A C Aitken, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
No 28 September 1933; A C Aitken, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
No 29 May 1935; A C Aitken, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.E.
No 30 May 1937; L M Brown, M.Sc.
The name of the journal was then changed to "The Edinburgh Mathematical Notes".
No 31 1939; L M Brown, M.Sc.
No 32 February 1941; L M Brown, M.Sc., Ph.D.
No 33 September 1943; L M Brown, M.Sc., Ph.D.
No 34 September 1943; L M Brown, M.Sc., Ph.D.
No 35 December 1945; I M H Etherington. B.A., D.Sc.
No 36 May 1947; I M H Etherington. B.A., D.Sc.
No 37 1949; I M H Etherington. B.A., D.Sc.
No 38 1952; D Martin, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
No 39 1954; D Martin, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
No 40 1956; D Martin, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
No 41 1957; D Martin, M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D.
From No 35 the information given about the Society on the back of the cover of the Notes was greatly increased. One part of interest is:-
Certain volumes of the Proceedings are out of print or very scarce, and the Hon. Secretary will therefore be glad to hear from members willing to give or sell their collections to the Society. Such gifts will be earmarked if desired or transmission to war damaged libraries needing them.
"The Edinburgh Mathematical Notes" was then moved to appear as part of the Proceedings. No 42 (misprinted No 41) appeared in Volume 11 (1958-59) of the Proceedings. No 43 and No 44 appear in Volume 12 (1960-61) of the Proceedings. In June 1962 the Notes became an integral part of the Proceedings. This was described as follows:-
The Society publishes the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society which contains papers embodying the results of research that is original in matter or manner and a section entitled Notes containing material of a less sophisticated nature.
This new form of the Notes only survived for a few years with the last Notes appearing at the end of Part 2 of Volume 15 of the Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society (1966-67).

Here is a list of articles (mostly obituaries) taken from the Notes which appear in our Archive:
THE WORKS OF SIR JOHN LESLIE (1766-1832)
E M Horsburgh
No 28, i-v

COLIN MACLAURIN
Robin Schlapp
No 37, 1-6