ALLIGATION

ALLIGATION, the name of a method of solving all questions that relate to the mixture of one ingredient with another. Though writers on arithmetic generally make alligation a branch of that science, yet, as it is plainly nothing more than an application of the common properties of numbers, in order to solve a few questions

that occur in particular branches of business, we choose rather to keep it distinct from the science of arithmetic. Alligation is generally divided into medial and alternate. ALLIGATION Medial, from the rates and quantities of the simples given, discovers the rate of the mixture.

Rule. As the total quantity of the simples,
To their price or value;
So any quantity of the mixture,
To the rate.

Example. A grocer mixes 30 lb. of currants, at 4d. per lb. with 10 lb. of other currants, at 6d. per lb.: What is the value of 1 lb. of the mixture? Ans. 4½d.