1

THE ALGEBRA
The Algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies the amount considered as g
eneral as possible.
HISTORY OF ALGEBRA
The history of algebra began in ancient Egypt and Babylon, where they were able
to solve linear equations (ax = b) and quadratic (ax2 + bx = c) and
indeterminate equations x2 + y2 = z2, with several unknowns. Outdated
Babylonians any quadratic equation solved using essentially the same methods to
teach today. They were also working to solve certain equations indeterminate. Th
e Alexandrian mathematicians Hero and Diophantus continued the tradition of Egyp
t and Babylon, although the book The arithmetic of Diophantus is sufficiently hi
gher level and has many surprising solutions for indeterminate equations difficu
lt. This ancient wisdom found on solving equations, in turn, welcomed in the Isl
amic world, where it was called "science to reduce and balance." (The Arabic wor
d al-jabru which means 'reduction' is the origin of the word algebra. In the nin
th century, the mathematician alJwrizm, wrote one of the earliest Arabic books o
n algebra, a systematic presentation of the fundamental theory of equations, inc
luding examples and demonstrations. In the late ninth century, the Egyptian math
ematician Abu Kamil enunciated and demonstrated the basic laws and identities of
algebra and solved such complicated problems as finding the x, y, z that satisf
y x + y + z = 10 , x2 + y2 = z2 and xz = y2. In ancient civilizations were writi
ng algebraic expressions using abbreviations only occasionally, but in the Middl
e Ages, Arab mathematicians were able to describe any power of the unknown x, an
d developed fundamental algebra of polynomials, but without using modern symbols
. This algebra including multiply, divide and extract square roots of polynomial
s, as well as knowledge of the binomial theorem. The mathematician, Persian poet
and astronomer Omar Khayyam showed how to express roots cubic equation obtained
by using the segments
Intersection of two conic sections, but was unable to find a formula for the roo
ts. The Latin translation of al-Jwrizm Algebra was published in the twelfth cent
ury. In the early thirteenth century Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci wa
s able to find a close approximation to the solution of the cubic equation x3 +
2x2 + cx = d. Fibonacci had traveled to Arab countries, so surely the method of
successive approximations Arabic. In the early sixteenth century Italian mathema
ticians Scipione del Ferro, Tartaglia, and Gerolamo Cardano solved the general c
ubic equation in terms of the constants appearing in Eq. Ludovico Ferrari, a stu
dent of Cardano, soon found the exact solution for the equation of fourth degree
and, therefore, certain mathematicians of later centuries tried to find the for
mula for the roots of the equations of fifth grade and higher. However, in early
nineteenth-century Norwegian mathematician Niels Abel and Galois à variste French
showed no such formula. An important development in algebra was the introductio
n in the sixteenth century, symbols for unknowns and algebraic operations and po
wers. Due to this development, the third book of geometry (1637), written by the
French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes is rather like a modern alg
ebra text. However, Descartes's most important contribution to mathematics was t
he discovery of analytic geometry, which reduces the resolution of geometric pro
blems to solving algebraic problems. Its geometry book also contains the foundat
ions of a theory class of equations, including what Descartes called the rule of
signs to count the number of real roots (positive) and false (negative) of an e
quation. During the eighteenth century continued to work in the theory of equati
ons and in 1799 the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss published a demons
tration that every polynomial equation has at least one root in the complex plan
e. At the time of Gauss, algebra had entered its modern phase. The focus moved f
rom the polynomial equations to studying the structure of abstract mathematical
systems whose axioms were based on the behavior of mathematical objects, such as
 complex numbers, that mathematicians had encountered when studying polynomial e
quations. Two examples of such systems are groups and
3 quadruples, which share some of the properties of number systems, but they als
o differ substantially.€The system began as groups of permutations and combinat
ions of the roots of polynomials, but evolved to become one of the most importan
t unifying concepts of mathematics in the nineteenth century. The French mathema
ticians Galois and Augustin Cauchy, the British and Norwegians Arthur Cayley Nie
ls Abel and Sophus Lie made important contributions to the study. The quadruples
were discovered by the Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilto
n, who developed the arithmetic of complex numbers for quadruples, while complex
numbers are of the form a + bi, the quadruples are of the form
a + bi + cj + dk.
Hamilton After the discovery of the German mathematician Hermann Grassmann began
investigating the vectors. Despite its abstract nature, the American physicist
J. W. Gibbs found in vector algebra a system useful for physicists, just as Hami
lton had done with the quadruples. The wide influence of this abstract approach
was George Boole to write research on the laws of thought (1854), an algebraic t
reatment of basic logic. Since then, modern algebra, also called abstract algebr
a has continued to evolve, important results have been obtained and have found a
pplications in all branches of mathematics and many other sciences. CHARACTERS O
F ALGEBRA
Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829):
fifth grade algebra equations.
He proved the impossibility of solving
Abel's life was dominated by poverty. After the death of his father, who was a P
rotestant minister, Abel had to aumir the responsibility of supporting his mothe
r and family in 1820. Professor Abel, Holmboe, recognized his talent for mathema
tics, because of their lack of money to attend a tuition to enter Christiania Un
iversity, joined the university in 1821, ten years after the university was foun
ded, and graduated in 1822.
4 published in 1823 written Abel functional equations and integrals. In this Abe
l gave the first solution of an integral equation. In 1824 proved to be impossib
le to solve algebraic equations of the fifth grade and publications made their o
wn expense in hopes of gaining recognition for their work. Eventually won a gove
rnment school to travel abroad, visited Germany and France.
Abel was the instrument that gave stability to the rigorous mathematical analysi
s on bases. His greatest work, "Recherches sur les fonctions elliptiques" was pu
blished in 1827 in the first volume of Crelle Journal, the first newspaper devot
ed entirely to mathematics. Abel visited this newspaper during his visit to Germ
any. After his visit to Paris, he returned to Norway rather weak. While in Paris
he visited a doctor who told him that he suffered from tuberculosis. Despite hi
s poor health and poverty, continued to write his writings and theory of the equ
ation and the elliptic functions of major importance in the total development of
the theory. Abel revolutionized the understanding of elliptic functions in the
study of the inverse of that function. Abel won the Grand Prize of the Mathemati
cs Institute of France, for his work on elliptic equations.
Abel went very ill in May to visit family for Christmas 1828 in Froland. He bega
n to wane and was seriously ill and died a few months later.
Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1240): Played a major role in reviving the
ancient mathematics and made major contributions themselves. Fibonacci was born
in Italy but was educated in North Africa where his
father held a diplomatic post. He traveled extensively with her father, well acq
uainted with the enormous advantages of the mathematical systems used in those c
ountries. Liber Abaci, published in 1202 after returning to Italy, is based on b
its of arithmetic and algebra that Fibonacci had accumulated during his travels.
Liber abacci introduced Hindu-Arabic decimal system and use the Arabic numerals
into Europe. A problem in Liber Abaci allows the introduction of the Fibonacci
numbers and the Fibonacci series for which Fibonacci is best remembered today. T
he Fibonacci Quarterly Journal is a modern newspaper devoted to the study of mat
hematics that lead this series.
6
Heron of Alexandria (20-62 AD), Greek mathematician and scientist. Its
Hero name could also be (approximately 18 Greek writers called Hero or Heron, cr
eating some difficulty in their identification). Heron of Alexandria was probabl
y born in Egypt and performed his work in Alexandria (Egypt). Wrote at least 13
works on mechanics, mathematics and physics. He invented several mechanical devi
ces,€many of them for practical use: the aelÍpila, a rotating steam engine, th
e source of Heron, a pneumatic device that produces a vertical jet of water by a
ir pressure and the diopter, a primitive geodesic instrument. However, it is kno
wn as a mathematician in both the field and in the geometry of geodesy (a branch
of mathematics that is responsible for determining the size and configuration o
f the Earth, and the location of specific areas the same.) Heron addressed the p
roblems of ground-based measurements with much more success than any other of hi
s generation. He also invented a method of approaching the square and cube roots
of numbers are not accurate. A Hero has been attributed in some cases having de
veloped the formula for finding the area of a triangle in terms of its sides, bu
t this formula probably had been developed before his time.
Diophantus (325-409 AD), Greek mathematician belonging to school
Alexandria. He lived in Egypt, where he worked mainly from Diophantine analysis,
being awarded the title of father of algebra. Wrote The arithmetic work of whic
h there are only six books of the 13 that composed it. It was however the first
to articulate a clear theory on linear equations. Also gave the formula for the
solution of quadratic equations.
Al-Khwarizmi (780-835) Arab mathematician, born in Jwrizm (now Khiva,
Uzbekistan). He was librarian at the court of Caliph al-Mamun and astronomer at
the observatory in Baghdad. His works on algebra, arithmetic and advanced astron
omical tables
7 highly mathematical thinking and was the first to use the expression to jabr (
from which the word algebra) with mathematical objectives. The Latin version (by
the Italian translator Gerard of Cremona) of the Treaty of al-Jwrizm on algebra
was responsible for much of the mathematical knowledge in medieval Europe. His
work with the algorithms (a term derived from the name) introduced the method of
calculation using Arabic numerals and decimal notation.
Omar Khayyam Omar Khayyam or: (1050-1122), mathematician and
Persian astronomer, author of one of the world's most famous poems. He was born
in Nishapur (now Iran). Its name means "Omar the shopkeeper." As an astronomer o
f the court, with other scientists involved in the reform of the calendar, since
then adopted a new era, known as jalaliana or Seliuk. As a writer of algebra, g
eometry and related topics, Omar was one of the foremost mathematicians of his d
ay. However, it is best known for the poem Rubaiyat, of which about 1,000 are at
tributed epigrammatic stanzas of four verses that speak of nature and humans.
Evariste Galois (1811-1832) French mathematician. After making
studies in a high school, he entered a normal school. His scientific activity, a
 short five years of life, mingled with an ardent revolutionary political activi
ty in the turbulent days of Paris in 1830. At 16 years, well versed in the mathe
matics of time, suffered its first disappointment as they failed in their attemp
t to join the School
8 Polytechnic. Follow the disappointment when a report presented to the Academy
and placed in the hands of Cauchy is lost, and when a second failure closes the
door of the Polytechnic. In 1829 and 1830 makes known his early work on continue
d fractions, issues analysis, theory of equations and number theory, and a summa
ry of the second report submitted to the Academy to qualify for the grand prize
in mathematics, which also lost. In 1831, involved in political events, is expel
led from regular school, where he was studying, and the purpose of engaging in p
rivate education, announces a course of higher algebra covering "A new theory of
imaginary numbers, the theory of equations solvable by radicals, number theory
and the theory of elliptic functions, treated by pure algebra. " The course had
no listeners and Galois entered the army, while drafting a report, the last, now
called "Galois Theory", which refers to the Academy and poisson described as "i
ncomprehensible." Later he is accused of dangerous Republican and was imprisoned
. Just out of jail a pistolazo dies in a duel, when he was 21 years old. On the
eve of the duel, to bequeath to a friend in his will scientific hasty notes, ask
s that if his opponent wins, you know their findings to Gauss or Jacobi to give
an opinion "does not respect the truth, but the importance of theorems. "€I hop
e someone will find useful later decipher this mess. This mess is now the "Group
Theory." Only in 1846 was met largely from the writings of Galois at the hands
of Joseph Liouville, and completed the publication of his writings Jules Tannery
earlier this century (1908). They looms and the idea of "body", and then develo
p Rieman and Richard Dedekind, and Galois introduced on the occasion of today's
so-called "imaginary Galois", designed for the purpose of providing general the
number of roots theorem of congruences of degree n prime module. It is at this w
riting where they first appear the most important properties of the theory of gr
oups (name he coined) that turn in his right Galois founder.
9 No doubt that the notion of group, special group of substitutions which is the
focus of Galois was already outlined in the work of Lagrange and Théophile Ale
xandre Vendermonde eighteenth century, and those of Gauss, Abel, Ruffini and Cau
chy nineteenth century, problems implicit theory of equations, number theory and
geometric transformations, but it is Galois who shows a clear idea of the gener
al theory with notions of subgroup and isomorphism.
Augustin Louis Cauchy (1789-1857): pioneer in analysis and theory
permutation groups. He also investigated the convergence and divergence of serie
s
infinite differential equations, determinants, Cauchy probability and mathematic
al physics, he worked as a military engineer and in 1810 came to Cherbourg to wo
rk with Napoleon in the invasion of England. In 1813 he returned to Paris and th
en was persuaded by Laplace and Lagrange to become a devotee of mathematics. He
helped to occupy various positions in the Faculty of Science of Paris, El Colegi
o de France and the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1814 he published the report of the
definite integral that became the basis of the theory of complex functions. Than
ks to Cauchy, the analysis becomes infinitesimal solid foundation. Many mathemat
ical terms bear his name: the Cauchy integral theorem, the theory
10 complex functions, the Cauchy-Riemann equations and Cauchy sequences. Cauchy,
789 was written, but was disapproved by the majority of his colleagues. He show
ed a stubborn self-righteousness and an aggressive religious fanaticism. As a fa
n of realism spent some time in Italy after refusing to take an oath of loyalty.
He left Paris after the Revolution of 1830 and after a short time in Switzerlan
d accepted an offer from the King of Piedmont for a chair in Turin where he rema
ined until 1832. In 1833 he left Turin to Prague in response to accompany Charle
s X and to be the guardian of your child. Cauchy returned to Paris in 1838 and r
esumed his position in academia but not its position as professor for refusing t
o take the oath of allegiance. When Louis Philippe was overthrown in 1848 Cauchy
took up his professorship at the Sorbonne. He helped the graduate to the time o
f his death.
Friedeich Carl Gauss (1777-1855):
Math.
German mathematician called The Prince
The son of a humble bricklayer, Gauss showed signs showed signs of being a geniu
s before he was three years. At that age she learned to read and do mental arith
metic with
11 such skill that he discovered an error in calculations made by his father to
pay some salaries. He entered primary school before he was seven. When I was twe
lve, he criticized the foundations of Euclidean geometry, at thirteen he was int
erested the potential of non-Euclidean geometry. At fifteen, he understood the c
onvergence and proved the binomial theorem. The genius and precocity of Gauss ca
me to the attention of the Duke of Brunswick, who arranged, when the boy was fou
rteen, afford both secondary and university education. Gauss, who also was inter
ested in the classics and languages, I thought I would make the philology of his
life's work, but the mathematics proved an irresistible attraction. While study
ing at Göttingen, found that it could build a regular polygon of seventeen side
s using only ruler and compass. Test showed his professor, who was shown a littl
e skeptical and told him that suggested it was impossible, but Gauss proved he w
as right. The teacher, unable to deny the obvious, said he also proceeded in the
same way. However, it acknowledged the merit of Gauss, and the date of discover
y, March 30, 1796, was important in the history of mathematics. Subsequently, Ga
uss found the formula to build the other regular polygons with straightedge and
compass. Gauss graduated from Göttingen in 1798,€The following year he receive
d his Ph.D. from the University of Helmstedt. The mathematics were not the only
subject that interested this man was also an astronomer, physicist, and inventor
geodesist. He spoke several languages with ease, and even dominated the Russian
at the age of sixty. In 1807 he was appointed director of the observatory and p
rofessor of astronomy at the University of Gottingen. In the early nineteenth ce
ntury, Gauss published his Disquisiciones arithmetic, offering a lucid analysis
of his theory of numbers, understanding the complicated equations that confirmed
his theory and an exposition of a convergence of an infinite series. He studied
the theory of errors and concluded the normal curve of probability, also called
Gauss curve, which is still used in statistical calculations. In 1833 he invent
ed an electric telegraph that used between home and the observatory, at a distan
ce of two kilometers. He also invented a magnetometer to measure magnetic bifili
ar and, with Weber, he designed and built a non-magnetic observatory. Both Gauss
and Rieman, who was his pupil, believed in an electromagnetic theory that it wo
uld be very similar to the law
12 universal gravitation, Newton. However, the theory of electromagnetism was de
vised later, in 1873, Maxwell, although Gauss had already mathematical foundatio
n for the theory. In 1840, Gauss research on optics were of particular importanc
e because of their deductions for what touches the lens systems. At the age of s
eventy-seven, Gauss died. It is said that the stone which marks his grave was wr
itten with a diagram, which built the same Gauss, a polygon of seventeen sides.
During his lifetime, was recognized as the greatest mathematician of the eightee
nth and nineteenth centuries. His work in mathematics helped form a basis for fi
nding the solution of complicated problems of physical and natural sciences.
George Boole (1815-1864): detained logic to a simple algebra. Also
worked on differential equations, the calculus of finite differences and general
 methods in probability. Boole first attended school in Lincoln, then a commerci
al school. His first instruction in math, but were of his father who also gave G
eorge the fans for the construction of optical instruments. George's interest tu
rned to languages and received instruction in Latin from a local bookstore. At t
he age of 12 years had become so skilled in Latin that caused controversy. He tr
anslated the Latin poet Horace Ode of which his father was so proud he had publi
shed. But the talent was such that a local schoolmaster disputed that anyone wit
h 12 years could have written with such depth. Boole did not study for a degree,
but at the age of 16 years was an assistant professor of school. He maintained
his interest in languages and tried to enter the Church. Since 1835, however, se
emed to have changed his mind since he opened his own school and began studying
mathematics for themselves. Soon realized it had lost almost five years trying t
o learn the material instead of having an expert teacher.
During this period Boole studied the works of Laplace and Lagrange, taking notes
, which later became the basis for his first mathematical papers. In any case he
received encouragement from Duncan Gregory who was in Cambridge at that time an
d
13 editor "Cambridge Mathematical Formal" recently founded. Boole was unable to
take Duncan Gregory's advice and study courses at Cambridge, and he needed the i
ncome from his school to care for their parents. However he began to study algeb
ra. An application of algebraic methods to solve differential equations was publ
ished by Boole in the "Transactions of the Royal Society and
This work received the Medal of the Royal Society. His mathematical work was the
beginning that brought him fame. Boole was appointed to a professorship of math
ematics at Queens College, Cork in 1849. He taught there for the rest of his lif
e, earning a reputation as a prominent and dedicated teacher. In 1854 published
An investigation of the laws of thought which are based on mathematical theories
of logic and probability. Boolean logic approached in a new direction by reduci
ng it to a simple algebra, incorporating logic into mathematics. Sharpened the a
nalogy between algebraic symbols and those that represent logical forms. It bega
n the algebra of logic called Boolean algebra which now finds application in com
puter construction, electrical circuits, etc.. Boole also resulted in differenti
al equations€the influential "Treatise on Differential Equations" appeared in 1
859, the method of finite differences, "Treatise on the Calculus
Finite Differences 14 (1860), and general methods in probability. Published abou
t 50 papers and was one of the first to investigate the basic properties of numb
ers, such as the distributive property of algebra foundation issues. Many honors
were given to Boole, was recognized as the genius in his work received high hon
ors from the universities of Dublin and Oxford and was elected academician of th
e Royal Society (1857). His work was praised by De Morgan who said: The system B
oolean logic is one of the many proofs of genius and patience combined. That the
symbolic processes of algebra, invented as a tool for numerical calculations, w
ould be competent to express every act of thought, and provide the grammar and d
ictionary of all content logical systems, there would have been credible to prov
e it. When Hobbes published his "Computation or Logic" He had a distant reflecti
on of some of the points that have been placed in the light of day by Mr. Boole.
Boolean algebra has wide applicability the telephone switch and the design of mo
dern computers. Boole's work has become an essential step in the revolution of c
omputers today.