This manuscript exercise book, which Bizzell called his "cyphering book," appears to have been made between 1812 and 1814 when Bizzell was a teenager. It contains rules and examples for commercial arithmetic, and it is not at all clear why a farmer's son should have been set to so specialized a course of study. The volume includes rules and examples for mensuration; conversion rates of money of the various states, Canada, and Nova Scotia, in relation to federal money; weights and measures; compound division; decimal fractions; the single rule of three; compound proportion; vulgar fractions; tare and tret; fellowship; simple interest; commission and brokerage; insurance; average (maritime); discount; barter; and loss and gain. Originally the exercise book was made up of quires of hand-made paper, and when the quires were sewn together to form the present volume, four leaves of Fourfrinier machine made paper were inserted and sewn into the middle of the volume. These four leaves include the names and dates of birth of Bizzell's slaves from 1831 to 1861 (That is, during the period when he was living in Johnston County).