Timeline of algebra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A timeline of key algebraic developments are as follows:

Year	Event
Circa 1800 BC	The Old Babylonian Strassburg tablet seeks the solution of a quadratic elliptic equation.[citation needed]
Circa 1800 BC:	The Plimpton 322 tablet gives a table of Pythagorean triples in Babylonian Cuneiform script.[citation needed]
Circa 800 BC	Indian mathematician Baudhayana, in his Baudhayana Sulba Sutra, discovers Pythagorean triples algebraically, finds geometric solutions of linear equations and quadratic equations of the forms ax2 = c and ax2 + bx = c, and finds two sets of positive integral solutions to a set of simultaneous Diophantine equations.[citation needed]
Circa 600 BC	Indian mathematician Apastamba, in his Apastamba Sulba Sutra, solves the general linear equation and uses simultaneous Diophantine equations with up to five unknowns.[citation needed]
Circa 300 BC	In Book II of his Elements, Euclid gives a geometric construction with Euclidean tools for the solution of the quadratic equation for positive real roots. The construction is due to the Pythagorean School of geometry.[citation needed]
Circa 300 BC	A geometric construction for the solution of the cubic is sought (doubling the cube problem). It is now well known that the general cubic has no such solution using Euclidean tools.[citation needed]
Circa 100 BC	Algebraic equations are treated in the Chinese mathematics book Jiuzhang suanshu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art), which contains solutions of linear equations solved using the rule of double false position, geometric solutions of quadratic equations, and the solutions of matrices equivalent to the modern method, to solve systems of simultaneous linear equations.[citation needed]
Circa 150 AD	Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria, treats algebraic equations in three volumes of mathematics.[citation needed]
Circa 200	Hellenistic mathematician Diophantus lived in Alexandria and is often considered to be the "father of algebra", writes his famous Arithmetica, a work featuring solutions of algebraic equations and on the theory of numbers.[citation needed]
499	Indian mathematician Aryabhata, in his treatise Aryabhatiya, obtains whole-number solutions to linear equations by a method equivalent to the modern one, describes the general integral solution of the indeterminate linear equation, gives integral solutions of simultaneous indeterminate linear equations, and describes a differential equation.[citation needed]
Circa 625	Chinese mathematician Wang Xiaotong finds numerical solutions of cubic equations.[citation needed]
628	Indian mathematician Brahmagupta, in his treatise Brahma Sputa Siddhanta, invents the chakravala method of solving indeterminate quadratic equations, including Pell's equation, and gives rules for solving linear and quadratic equations. He discovers that quadratic equations have two roots, including both negative as well as irrational roots.[citation needed]
Circa 7th century Dates vary from the third to the twelfth centuries A.D.[1]	The Bakhshali Manuscript written in ancient India uses a form of algebraic notation using letters of the alphabet and other signs, and contains cubic and quartic equations, algebraic solutions of linear equations with up to five unknowns, the general algebraic formula for the quadratic equation, and solutions of indeterminate quadratic equations and simultaneous equations.[citation needed]
Circa 800	The Abbasid patrons of learning, al-Mansur, Haroun al-Raschid, and al-Mamun, had Greek, Babylonian, and Indian mathematical and scientific works translated into Arabic and began a cultural, scientific and mathematical awakening after a century devoid of mathematical achievements.[2]
820	The word algebra is derived from operations described in the treatise written by the Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḵwārizmī titled Al-Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala (meaning "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing") on the systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. Al-Khwarizmi is often considered as the "father of algebra", much of whose works on reduction was included in the book and added to many methods we have in algebra now.[citation needed]
Circa 850	Persian mathematician al-Mahani conceived the idea of reducing geometrical problems such as duplicating the cube to problems in algebra.[citation needed]
Circa 850	Indian mathematician Mahavira solves various quadratic, cubic, quartic, quintic and higher-order equations, as well as indeterminate quadratic, cubic and higher-order equations.[citation needed]
Circa 990	Persian Abu Bakr al-Karaji, in his treatise al-Fakhri, further develops algebra by extending Al-Khwarizmi's methodology to incorporate integral powers and integral roots of unknown quantities. He replaces geometrical operations of algebra with modern arithmetical operations, and defines the monomials x, x2, x3, ... and 1/x, 1/x2, 1/x3, ... and gives rules for the products of any two of these.[citation needed]
Circa 1050	Chinese mathematician Jia Xian finds numerical solutions of polynomial equations.[citation needed]
1072	Persian mathematician Omar Khayyam gives a complete classification of cubic equations with positive roots and gives general geometric solutions to these equations found by means of intersecting conic sections.[3]
1114	Indian mathematician Bhaskara, in his Bijaganita (Algebra), recognizes that a positive number has both a positive and negative square root, and solves quadratic equations with more than one unknown, various cubic, quartic and higher-order polynomial equations, Pell's equation, the general indeterminate quadratic equation, as well as indeterminate cubic, quartic and higher-order equations.[citation needed]
1202	Algebra is introduced to Europe largely through the work of Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa in his work Liber Abaci.[citation needed]
Circa 1300	Chinese mathematician Zhu Shijie deals with polynomial algebra, solves quadratic equations, simultaneous equations and equations with up to four unknowns, and numerically solves some quartic, quintic and higher-order polynomial equations.[citation needed]
Circa 1400	Indian mathematician Madhava of Sangamagramma finds the solution of transcendental equations by iteration, iterative methods for the solution of non-linear equations, and solutions of differential equations.[citation needed]
1412-1482	Arab mathematician Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī took "the first steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism." He used "short Arabic words, or just their initial letters, as mathematical symbols."[4]
1535	Nicolo Fontana Tartaglia and others mathematicians in Italy independently solved the general cubic equation.[5]
1545	Girolamo Cardano publishes Ars magna -The great art which gives Fontana's solution to the general quartic equation.[5][citation needed]
1572	Rafael Bombelli recognizes the complex roots of the cubic and improves current notation.[citation needed]
1591	Francois Viete develops improved symbolic notation for various powers of an unknown and uses vowels for unknowns and consonants for constants in In artem analyticam isagoge.[citation needed]
1631	Thomas Harriot in a posthumus publication is the first to use symbols < and > to indicate "less than" and "greater than", respectively.[6]
1682	Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz develops his notion of symbolic manipulation with formal rules which he calls characteristica generalis.[citation needed]
1683	Japanese mathematician Kowa Seki, in his Method of solving the dissimulated problems, discovers the determinant, discriminant, and Bernoulli numbers.[citation needed]
1685	Kowa Seki solves the general cubic equation, as well as some quartic and quintic equations.[citation needed]
1693	Leibniz solves systems of simultaneous linear equations using matrices and determinants.[citation needed]
1750	Gabriel Cramer, in his treatise Introduction to the analysis of algebraic curves, states Cramer's rule and studies algebraic curves, matrices and determinants.[citation needed]
1824	Niels Henrik Abel proved that the general quintic equation is insoluble by radicals.[5]
1832	Galois theory is developed by Évariste Galois in his work on abstract algebra.[5]