ABSTRACT
The making of algebra (where symbols replaced numbers) took roots in India and Arabia around 400 A.D. Arithmetic became a discipline as a branch of mathematics at the hands of mathematicians in India and the Middle East. The origin of the word ‘algorithm’ is traced back to the Arab mathematician Al-Khowarizmi (825 A.D.) who computed via algebra areas of rectangles and used them to represent algebraic quantities and vice versa. But, it was not until 1637 when Rene Descartes (1596–1650) invented Analytical Geometry, a mixing of algebraic and geometric concepts took place. (Descartes made use of ‘x’ and other letters near the end of the alphabet to represent an ‘indeterminate’.) In fact, the ideas of algebra and geometry were brought together in a recognizable way. That was a great event in the history of mathematics. For, it helped the invention of Calculus by Isaac Newton (1642–1727) and Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz (1646–1716) during the early years of eighteenth century.
