History of Algebra

1he hlsLory of algebra began ln anclenL LgypL and 8abylon where people learned Lo
solve llnear (ox b) and quadraLlc (ox
2
+ bx c) equaLlons as well asloJetetmloote
epootloos such as x
2
+ y
2
z
2
whereby several unknowns are lnvolved 1he anclenL
8abylonlans solved arblLrary quadraLlc equaLlons by essenLlally Lhe same procedures
LaughL Loday 1hey also could solve some lndeLermlnaLe equaLlons
1he Alexandrlan maLhemaLlclans Pero of Alexandrla and ulophanLus conLlnued Lhe
LradlLlons of LgypL and 8abylon buL ulophanLuss book Atltbmetlco ls on a much
hlgher level Lo dlfflculL lndeLermlnaLe and glves many surprlslng soluLlons equaLlons
constant
A mathematicaI constant is a special number, usually a real number, that is "significantly interesting in
some way".
[1]
Constants arise in many different areas of mathematics, with constants such
as e and occurring in such diverse contexts as geometry, number theory andcalculus.
Polynomial
n mathematics, a 5oIynomiaI (from Greek poly, "many" and medieval Latin binomium, "binomial"
[1]

[2]

[3]
,
the word has been introduced, in Latin, by Franciscus Vieta
[4]
) is an expression of finite length constructed
from variables (also known as indeterminates) and constants, using only the operations
of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and non-negative integer exponents. For example, x
2
~ 4x + 7 is a
polynomial, butx
2
~ 4/x + 7x
3/2
is not, because its second term involves division by the variable x (4/x) and
because its third term contains an exponent that is not an integer (3/2). The term "polynomial" can also be
used as an adjective, for quantities that can be expressed as a polynomial of some parameter, as in
"polynomial time" which is used in computational complexity theory
Monomial
The first is a product of powers of variables, or formally any value obtained by finitely many multiplications
of a variable. f only a single variable x is considered, this means that any monomial is either 1 or a
power x
o
of x, with o a positive integer. f several variables are considered, say, x, y, z, then each can be
given an exponent, so that any monomial is of the form x
o
y
b
z
c
with obc non-negative integers (taking
note that any exponent 0 makes the corresponding factor equal to 1).
Binomial
The binomial ,

can be factored as the product of two other binomials:

,

,-,-

This is a special case of the more general
formula: .
The product of a pair of linear binomials ,- and ./ is:
,-./,.

,/-.-/
A binomial raised to the n
th
power, represented as
,-
3

can be expanded by means of the binomial theorem or, equivalently, using Pascal's triangle.
Taking a simple example, the perfect squarebinomial 56

can be found by squaring the first

term, adding twice the product of the first and second terms and finally adding the square of the
second term, to give 5

566

.
A simple but interesting application of the cited binomial formula is the "(m,n)-
formula" for generating Pythagorean triples: for m < n, let,3

, -
23, .3

, then ,

.
Trinomial
A trinomial equation is an equation involving three terms. An example is the equation x p + x
m
studied
by Johann Heinrich Lambert in the 18th century.
[1