“The first writer on algebra whose works have come down to us is Ahmes. He has certain problems in linear equations and in series, and these form the essentially new feature in his work. His treatment of the subject is largely rhetorical.”

Source: History of Mathematics (1925) Vol.2, Ch. 6: Algebra

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David Eugene Smith33

American mathematician 1860–1944

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Source: History of Mathematics (1925) Vol.2, Ch. 6: Algebra

“This work… was designed in the first instance to be a second edition of a Treatise on Algebra, published in 1830, and which has been long out of print; but I have found it necessary, in carrying out the principles developed in that work, to present the subject in so novel a form, that I could not with propriety consider it in any other light than as an entirely new treatise.”

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“Algebra in the Renaissance period received its first serious consideration in Pacioli's Sūma (1494)… which characterized in a careless way the knowledge… thus far accumulated. By the aid of the crude symbolism then in use it gave a considerable amount of work in equations.
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Source: History of Mathematics (1925) Vol.2, p. 384; Ch. 6: Algebra

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“The first writer on algebra whose works have come down to us is Ahmes. He has certain problems in linear equations and in series, and these form the essentially new feature in his work. His treatment of the subject is largely rhetorical.”

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David Eugene Smith33

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