algebra
[al-juh-bruh]
- the branch of mathematics that deals with general statements of relations, utilizing letters and other symbols to represent specific sets of numbers, values, vectors, etc., in the description of such relations.
- any of several algebraic systems, especially a ring in which elements can be multiplied by real or complex numbers (linear algebra) as well as by other elements of the ring.
- any special system of notation adapted to the study of a special system of relationship: algebra of classes.
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Origin of algebra
1535–45; < Medieval Latin < Arabic al-jabr literally, restoration
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
calculationcalculusgeometrymathalgebradivisionadditionmultiplicationsubtractionnumberstrigonometryExamples from the Web for algebra
Contemporary Examples
What did those darned Muslims give us other than grammar and algebra?
That same year Forever 21 was forced to stop selling tops that read “Allergic to Algebra.”
The arc of Hathahate is like one of those U-ish parabolas from algebra class.
To make the algebra work, each day had to have been twenty-two hours in length.
How Long Is a Year? Is the Earth Slowing Down? And Other Questions About TimeNeil Shubin
January 6, 2013
Quite appropriately, Moses received a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award in 1982 for his work with the Algebra Project.
Historical Examples
According to every rule of algebra, not more than one of us three should be alive now.
The Rock of ChickamaugaJoseph A. Altsheler
Apples and algebra were the things she cared most about in school life.
The Green Satin GownLaura E. Richards
She went singing to her algebra, which she could not have done if it had not been snowing.
The Green Satin GownLaura E. Richards
Has your algebra bothered you, or is the barn dance troubling your conscience?
Pocket IslandCharles Clark Munn
One might almost as well say, "If I only had the knowledge of algebra I had as a child!"
algebra
- a branch of mathematics in which arithmetical operations and relationships are generalized by using alphabetic symbols to represent unknown numbers or members of specified sets of numbers
- the branch of mathematics dealing with more abstract formal structures, such as sets, groups, etc
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Word Origin
C14: from Medieval Latin, from Arabic al-jabr the bone-setting, reunification, mathematical reduction
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for algebra
n.
1550s, from Medieval Latin algebra, from Arabic al jebr "reunion of broken parts," as in computation, used 9c. by Baghdad mathematician Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi as the title of his famous treatise on equations ("Kitab al-Jabr w'al-Muqabala" "Rules of Reintegration and Reduction"), which also introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The accent shifted 17c. from second syllable to first. The word was used in English 15c.-16c. to mean "bone-setting," probably from Arab medical men in Spain.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
algebra
[ăl′jə-brə]
- A branch of mathematics in which symbols, usually letters of the alphabet, represent numbers or quantities and express general relationships that hold for all members of a specified set.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
algebra
A branch of mathematics marked chiefly by the use of symbols (see also symbol) to represent numbers, as in the use of a2 + b2 = c2 to express the Pythagorean theorem.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.