Peter Adman surveys various quantitative techniques used as teaching aids for history students. Most of these techniques were used before computers became available to students. Computers now allow students to use quantitative methods previously available only to professional researchers. These resources enable students to analyze voting records, census records, and historical texts. Available data sets include the 1774–1784 and 1860–1868 parliamentary elections and the 1861 census.

One of Adman’s illustrations uses database queries to determine the number of children per family, the average household size, and the number of widowed heads of households. Another example describes an expert system that determines whether given place names have Saxon origin by examining their endings.

Unfortunately, this paper is long on jargon and short on explanation. Rules for coding, mention of a pop-up calculator, and a two-sentence description of expert systems confuse rather than aid the reader. While the illustrations are useful, this chapter does not go beyond a basic description of a computer curriculum for undergraduate and first-year graduate students of history.