''Elements of Algebra'' is an
elementary mathematics
Elementary mathematics consists of mathematics topics frequently taught at the primary or secondary school levels.
In the Canadian curriculum, there are six basic strands in Elementary Mathematics: Number, Algebra, Data, Spatial Sense, Finan ...
textbook written by mathematician
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...
around 1765 in German. It was first published in Russian as "''Universal Arithmetic''" (''Универсальная арифметика''), two volumes appearing in 1768-9 and in 1770 was printed from the original text. ''Elements of Algebra'' is one of the earliest books to set out algebra in the modern form we would recognize today (another early book being ''Elements of Algebra'' by
Nicholas Saunderson
Nicholas Saunderson (20 January 1682 – 19 April 1739) was a blind English scientist and mathematician. According to one historian of statistics, he may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes' theorem. He worked as Lucasian Professor o ...
, published in 1740), and is one of Euler's few writings, along with ''
Letters to a German Princess
''Letters to a German Princess, On Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy'' (French: ''Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie'') were a series of 234 letters written by the mathematician Leonhar ...
'', that are accessible to the general public. Written in numbered paragraphs as was common practice till the 19th century, ''Elements'' begins with the definition of mathematics and builds on the fundamental operations of arithmetic and number systems, and gradually moves towards more abstract topics.
In 1771,
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi Lagrangia[John Hewlett
John Hewlett (1762–13 April 1844) was a prominent biblical scholar in nineteenth-century England.
Hewlett was born in Chetnole, Dorset to Timothy Hewlett. In his early 20s he established a school in Shacklewell, Hackney. During this period, h ...](_blank)
(1822), and the other, which is translated to English from a French translation of the book, by Charles Tayler (1824). On the 300th birth anniversary of Euler in 2007, mathematician Christopher Sangwin working with Tarquin Publications published a digitized copy based on Hewlett's translation of the first four sections (or Part I) of the book.
In 2015, Scott Hecht published both print and Kindle versions of ''Elements of Algebra'' () with Euler's Part I (Containing the Analysis of Determinate Quantities), Part II (Containing the Analysis of Indeterminate Quantities), Lagrange's Additions, and footnotes by Johann Bernoulli and others.
See also
*
Introductio in analysin infinitorum
''Introductio in analysin infinitorum'' (Latin: ''Introduction to the Analysis of the Infinite'') is a two-volume work by Leonhard Euler which lays the foundations of mathematical analysis. Written in Latin and published in 1748, the ''Introducti ...
(1748)
*
Institutiones calculi differentialis
''Institutiones calculi differentialis'' (''Foundations of differential calculus'') is a mathematical work written in 1748 by Leonhard Euler and published in 1755 that lays the groundwork for the differential calculus. It consists of a single volu ...
(1755)
References
External links
''Elements of Algebra'' 1822, Full text
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The origin of the problems in Euler's ''Algebra''
Mathematics textbooks
1760s books
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