Until the 19th century, Algebra was
simply the theory of equations, but not until before the algebra we know in our
days was the same. In fact, it is a branch of mathematics, that began being
known as the work of an expert mathematician of the 16th century, François
Viète.
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| François Viete. |
But how did interest for Algebra
started?
In Ancient Egypt, people learned to solve linear (ax = b) and
quadratic (ax2 + bx = c)
equations. They also could solve some indeterminate equations, which give us an
answer for the previous question.
From the past, we can observe that
ancient civilizations wrote out algebraic expressions using only occasional
abbreviations, and by medieval times, Islamic mathematicians were able to talk
of the unknown “x”, and work out the basic algebra of polynomials.
Back again with the 16th century,
mathematicians such as René Descartes wrote Book III of La géometrie (1637)which
looks much like a modern algebra text. This and references we can obtain from
François Viète show us that algebra started being founded at around this
century.
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| René Descartes. |
By the time of Gauss, algebra could
be finally named as in modern state. Attention mathematicians had focused on
polynomial equations changed into studying the structure of abstract
mathematical systems who’s axioms were base don the behavior of mathematical
objects i.e.: complex numbers, algebraic groups…
Later, XIX-XX century, algebra
shifted again with the discovery of quaternions; complex numbers of the form a + bi
changed into a + bi + cj + dk.
After this discovery,
mathematicians started investigating vectors, and this bring us to our days,
where algebra, in a continuous develop, has occupied importance and an role in
every field, and not only in mathematics.
