Scribd
Upload
39 views11 pages

A Brief History of Algebra: (A.k.a., What's Algebraic About Modern Algebra?)

The document provides a brief history of algebra, beginning with its origins over 2000 years ago when it was expressed geometrically. Key developments included solving cubic equations in the 1500s, the acceptance of complex numbers and negative numbers, and Galois' theory determining when equations have algebraic solutions. Modern algebra involves two main areas - studying groups to understand how roots interact, and rings/fields to measure the "complication" of roots and determine if they can be expressed algebraically.

Uploaded by

Kuna Kunavathi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
39 views11 pages

A Brief History of Algebra: (A.k.a., What's Algebraic About Modern Algebra?)

The document provides a brief history of algebra, beginning with its origins over 2000 years ago when it was expressed geometrically. Key developments included solving cubic equations in the 1500s, the acceptance of complex numbers and negative numbers, and Galois' theory determining when equations have algebraic solutions. Modern algebra involves two main areas - studying groups to understand how roots interact, and rings/fields to measure the "complication" of roots and determine if they can be expressed algebraically.

Uploaded by

Kuna Kunavathi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

A

 Brief  History  of  Algebra  


(a.k.a.,  What’s  algebraic  about  modern  algebra?)  
What  we  think  algebra  is  

*  High  school  algebra  teaches  rules  for  manipulating  


equations  
*  e.g.  ``multiplication  distributes  across  addition”  

*  The  theoretical  culmination  of  high  school  algebra  is  


the  quadratic  equation:  solutions  to  ax2+bx+c=0 are  

!b ± b 2 ! 4ac
x=
2a
When  algebra  began  

*  Most  of  high  school  algebra  is  at  least  2000  years  old,  
though  almost  always  phrased  geometrically  
 
 If  a  straight  line  is  cut  at  random,  the  square  on  the  whole  equals  the  
 squares  on  the  segments  plus  twice  the  rectangle  contained  by  the  segments.  
 

*  Most  notation  we  use  is  less  than  500  years  old  
*  =  and  +  weren’t  used  until  about  1550  
*  Negative  numbers  weren’t  accepted  until  the  late  1500s    
*  Analytic  geometry  (coordinate  systems  for  points)  
wasn’t  invented  until  around  the  1650s  
The  Algebraic  revolution  

*  Solving  a  general  cubic  equation  was  the  main  algebraic  


quest  in  the  1400  &  1500s  
*  In  early  1500s,  del  Ferro  solved  x3+mx = n
2 3 2 3
n n m n n p
x= 3 + + +3 ! +
2 4 27 2 4 27

*  Ferro  kept  his  work  secret  for  fear  of  being  challenged,  
but  passed  his  work  on  to  a  student  named  Fior
More  progress  on  cubics  

*  Niccolo  Fontana  Tartaglia  


solved  a  broader  class  of  
cubic  equations  
*  Tartaglia  also  kept  his  
results  secret  
*  Fior  challenged  Tartaglia  
to  a  “cubic-­‐equation  off”  
in  1535.      
*  Tartaglia  destroys  Fior  
Tartaglia  shares  his  secret  

*  Gerolamo  Cardano  
persuaded  Tartaglia  to  
reveal  his  cubic  secret  
   
“I  swear  to  you,  by  God’s  holy  Gospels,  and  as  a  
true  man  of  honor,  not  only  never  to  publish  your  
discoveries,  if  you  teach  me  them,  but  I  also  
promise  you,  and  I  pledge  my  faith  as  a  true  
Christian,  to  note  them  down  in  code,  so  that  
after  my  death  no  one  will  be  able  to  understand  
them.”  
Cubic  Scandal!  

*  Cardano  learns  of  del  


Ferro’s  original  work  in  
solving  cubics,  and  uses  
this  as  a  loophole  to  write  
about  solving  cubics  
*  Cardano’s  student  Ferrari  
uses  Tartaglia’s  
techniques  to  solve  the  
general  quartic  
Complex  numbers  

*  Cardano  noticed  that  some  cubic  equations  with  real  


roots  were  solved  using  complex  numbers  
*  This  is  the  reason  that  complex  numbers  (and  
negative  numbers)  finally  became  acceptable  
What  about  quintic  equations?  

*  Mathematicians  worked  
for  another  250  years  to  
find  a  quintic  formula  
*  Niels  Abel  proved  in  1824  
that  a  general  quintic  has  
no  “algebraic”  solutions    
*  This  was  a  big  surprise!  
*  Abel  died  at  26  due  to  
sledding  trip  
When  do  equations  have    
algebraic  solutions?  

*  Evariste  Galois  
determined  precisely  
when  an  equation  had  
algebraic  solutions  
*  Developed  these  ideas  
when  he  was  a  teen  
*  Killed  in  dual  at  age  20  
*  His  work  is  now  known  as  
Galois  Theory  
The  two  sides  of  modern  algebra  

Groups   Rings  &  Fields  


*  One  can  consider  how  roots  of   *  To  determine  if  roots  can  be  
a  polynomial  interact  with  each   expressed  algebraically,  one  
other.       has  to  study  how  
“complicated”  a  given  root  is  
*  This  interaction  is  measured  by  
*  One  can  measure  this  
an  object  called  a  group.   “complication”  by  studying  
*  Groups  will  be  the  objects  we   rings  and  fields  
think  about  most  in  this  class   *  We’ll  spend  a  little  time  
thinking  about  rings  and  fields  
in  this  class  

You might also like