Date of composition starting either in early 1832 or in early 1833 and continuing for an unspecifiable period, probably not longer than a year or two.
	The first leaf (1r) displays an ornamented inscription,  Mastr Ruskin, / Jany 21st 1833.  No indication is given whether this date refers to the inception of the text or its completion. An argument for 21 January 1833 as the completion date can be drawn from the orthography. The scroll work on each page around the headings  Problem I,   Problem II,  etc., closely resembles that used for the  Finis  to  Iteriad -- such a finis,  Ruskin said on 14 January 1832 when he finished  Iteriad,  that he  took [from] Mr Butterworth  and indeed  quite eclipsed Mr Butterworth [and] threw him into the shade   (RFL 259; see RGI pl. 7). If Ruskin went on in early 1832 to use this style of flourish for his  Practical Geometry,  he might well have finished the notebook a year later on 21 January 1833. This hypothesis is supported also by the distinctive lettering used for  GEOMETRY.  The title pages sharing that lettering,  Iteriad  and  Athens  in MS VII, probably were drawn during the last quarter of 1831 (see nos. 91, 135). Thus, we can imagine Ruskin, at the beginning of 1832, drawing on his full orthographic arsenal for his  Practical Geometry. 
	Alternatively, an argument for 21 January 1833 as the date of inaugurating the notebook is suggested by the apparent incompletion of the project. The loose ends are not very noticeable (see  Content  below), however, and Ruskin likewise inscribed his  Iteriad  fair copy as finished, despite missing  Notes  (see no. 91). Nonetheless, the fact that  Practical Geometry  is incomplete must weigh somewhat against Ruskin having signed and dated it as if to signify an accomplished ending.
	The choice between the alternative interpretations is not greatly helped by the contents. In his 14 January 1832 letter, the same letter in which Ruskin mentions drawing on Butterworth for the  Finis  to  Iteriad,  he also refers to his mathematics lessons as  Mr Roebothams [sic] sums --namely,  addition subtraction multiplication and division.  By 4 March, he had  positively got to the Rule of three  (RFL 273), a method of working out problems of proportion. On 15 January 1833, shortly before the inscription date in  Practical Geometry,  Ruskin complained of being  bogged in my algebra.  At any time during this progress, Ruskin might have begun the  problems  in MX XIA, which are  practical,  not theoretical; that is, the problems are designed to hone the student’s skill with compass and ruler. This practical training might have been started in January 1833 in preparation for Euclidean geometry, which is first mentioned by Ruskin in early 1834, when he reached the fifth book of Euclid (RFL 279); however, the exercises might just as easily have begun earlier.
	It is possible, of course, that Ruskin’s inscription has nothing whatever to do with the geometry exercises, and that on 21 January 1833 he merely took a fancy to inscribing his name. I favor interpreting the date as referring to the geometry  problems,  however, and specifically to the notebook’s completion. Besides the orthographical considerations mentioned above, which seem stronger than coincidence would allow, the ending date of January 1833 is suggested by the practical geometry  problems  being followed by algebraic problems--exercises that might well have  bogged  Ruskin afterward, as he complained on 15 January 1833.