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This article presents an account of my attempt to follow Thomas Hood's instructions for the inscription of two scales on the sector, as laid out in his The Making and Use of the Geometricatl Instrument, Catted a Sector (1598). This will allow us to identify those aspects of the work that he expected readers to infer for themselves. I will then piece together the ways in which readers might have inscribed the scales and build up a picture of the kind of background knowledge that the author expected of his readers. It was this knowledge that made it possible to communicate the tacit skills involved in instrument making through a book. We will find that much ofthe background knowledge required involved experience of manual techniques, rather than abstract principles. Thus, we will develop an understanding of the thoroughly practical nature of vernacular mathematics.

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In 1571, Thomas Digges saw a work entitled A geometrical practise, named pantometria (hereafter Pantometria) through the press. The first three books of the work were based heavily on manuscripts prepared by Thomas' father, Leonard, and instructed on the measurement of lengths, areas, and volumes respectively. To these three books, Thomas added his own appendix on geometrical solids. In offering these materials together in one vernacular publication, Digges suggested the feasibility of uniting abstract geometry with practical pursuits for presentation to an English-reading audience.

After listening to 2 stories, William's Doll and Ira Sleeps Over, 2 groups of kindergarten students (22 boys and 27 girls) were questioned about their attitudes toward the nontraditional male roles depicted. A comparison with a 1975 study by Styer suggests that both genders are more accepting of literature portraying boys in nontraditional ways.