A01=Karen Hunger Parshall
A01=Victor J. Katz
Abstract algebra
Addition
Algebra
Algebraic equation
Algebraic integer
Algebraic number field
Algebraic operation
Algorithm
Analytic geometry
Arithmetic
Arithmetica
Author_Karen Hunger Parshall
Author_Victor J. Katz
Axiom
Calculation
Category=PBCD
Category=PBF
Category=PBX
Coefficient
Combination
Complex number
Coprime integers
Cube root
Cubic function
David Hilbert
Determinant
Diophantus
Divisor
Emmy Noether
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Equation
Euclid's Elements
Fibonacci
Fundamental theorem
Fundamental theorem of algebra
Geometry
Integer
Lecture
Linear differential equation
Linear equation
Linear map
Mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics in medieval Islam
Modular arithmetic
Natural number
Notation
Number theory
Permutation
Polynomial
Prime number
Princeton University Press
Proportionality (mathematics)
Quadratic
Quadratic equation
Quadratic form
Quadratic formula
Quantity
Quartic function
Quaternion
Rectangle
Result
Scientific notation
Simultaneous equations
Special case
Square number
Square root
Subtraction
Summation
System of linear equations
Textbook
Theorem
Theory
Theory of equations
Three-dimensional space (mathematics)
Variable (mathematics)
Product details
- ISBN 9780691149059
- Weight: 964g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 21 Jul 2014
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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What is algebra? For some, it is an abstract language of x's and y's. For mathematics majors and professional mathematicians, it is a world of axiomatically defined constructs like groups, rings, and fields. Taming the Unknown considers how these two seemingly different types of algebra evolved and how they relate. Victor Katz and Karen Parshall explore the history of algebra, from its roots in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and India, through its development in the medieval Islamic world and medieval and early modern Europe, to its modern form in the early twentieth century. Defining algebra originally as a collection of techniques for determining unknowns, the authors trace the development of these techniques from geometric beginnings in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and classical Greece. They show how similar problems were tackled in Alexandrian Greece, in China, and in India, then look at how medieval Islamic scholars shifted to an algorithmic stage, which was further developed by medieval and early modern European mathematicians.
With the introduction of a flexible and operative symbolism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, algebra entered into a dynamic period characterized by the analytic geometry that could evaluate curves represented by equations in two variables, thereby solving problems in the physics of motion. This new symbolism freed mathematicians to study equations of degrees higher than two and three, ultimately leading to the present abstract era. Taming the Unknown follows algebra's remarkable growth through different epochs around the globe.
Victor J. Katz is professor of mathematics emeritus at the University of the District of Columbia. Karen Hunger Parshall is professor of history and mathematics at the University of Virginia.
