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TRACT XXXIII.

HISTORY OP 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 genera! signs or characters.At first, numbers and things were expressed by their namesat fuil length ; but 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 beemployed 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 byLucas .deBurgo, the first European author whose treatise was printedon this art, and w r ho also refers to former authors and mas-ters, from whose, writings he had learned it. The Arabic name be gives it, is Alghebra e Almncabala, which is ex-plained to signify the 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 wmrd Geber, which withthe particle al, makes Algeber , which is purely Arabic ,