Excerpt from The Elements of Algebra, Designed for the Use of Schools, Vol. 2
1. (1) 'Algebra is the European corruption of the first words of an Arabic phrase, which may be thus written, al jebr e al mokabalah, meaning restoration and reduction. The earliest work on the subject is that of Diophantus, a Greek of Alexandria, who lived between A.D. 100 and A.D. 400; but when cannot be well settled, nor whether he invented the science himself, or borrowed it from some Eastern work. It was brought among, the Mahommedans by Mohammed ben Musa between A.D. 800 and A.D. 850, and was certainly derived by him from the Hindoos. The earliest work which has yet been found among the latter nation is called the Vija Ganita written in the Sanscrit language, about A.D. 1150. It was introduced into Italy from the Arabic work of Mohammed, about A.D. 1200, by Leonardo Bonacci, called Leonard of Pisa; and into England by a physician, named Bohert Recorde, in a book called The Whetstone of Witte, published in the reign of Queen Mary, 1557. - De Morgan.
2. (5)More generally, the terms positive and negative, with the corresponding signs, may be used of any quantities, which are 80 opposed to each other in character, that any number of units of the one taken together with the same number of units of the other, would neutralize each other.
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