Written by a great English mathematician, this classic text begins with the differences of elementary functions and explores interpolation, mechanical quadrature, finite integration, and the summation of series. Several useful tests for the convergence and divergence of series are developed, as is a method for finding the limits of error in series expansions. The latter half of the book discusses difference-equations, including linear, mixed, and partial difference-equations, and concludes with applications to problems in geometry and optics. The text pays particular attention to the connection of the calculus of finite differences with the differential calculus, and more than 200 problems appear in the text (some with solutions). Unabridged republication of the classic 1872 edition.