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TRACT XXXIII.

HISTORY OF ALGEBRA.

Algebra is usually understood to be a general method ofresolving mathematical problems by means of equations.Or, it is a method of performing the calculations of allsorts of quantities by means of general signs or characters.At first, numbers and things were expressed by their namesat full length ; hut afterwards these were abridged, and theinitials of the words used instead of them ; and, as the artadvanced further, the letters of the alphabet came to heemploj-ed as general representations of all sorts of quanti-ties. Other marks were also gradually introduced, to ex-press all sorts of operations and combinations ; so as to en-title it to different appellations—as, universal arithmetic,and literal arithmetic, and the arithmetic of signs.

The etymology of the name, Algebra, is given in variousways. It is, however, pretty generally considered, thatthe word is Arabian, and that from those people we had thename, as well as the art itself, as is testified by Lucas deBurgo, the first European author whose treatise was printedon this art, and who also refers to former authors and mas-ters, from whose writings he had learned it. The Arabicname he gives it, is Alghebra e Almucabala, which is ex-plained to signify tire art of restitution and comparison, oropposition and restoration, or resolution and equation, allwhich agree well enough with the nature of this art. Somehowever derive it from various other Arabic words; as fromGeber, a celebrated philosopher, chemist, and mathemati-cian, to whom also they ascribe the invention of this sci-ence : and some derive it from the word Geber, which withthe particle al, makes Algeber, which is purely Arabic,