ALGEBRA

HISTORY
• “Algebra” was derived from the title of the work of
an Arab mathematician, al- Khowarizmi (ca. 825)
• This work was entitled “Hisab al-jabr wal-
mugabalah”
• “al-jabr” – consolidation when applied to
equations
• Algebra started a long time before al- Kwoharizmi
• Originated from the Babylonians
• Messelman, a mathematician, divided the history of
algebra into 3 periods: 1) rhetorical period 2)
syncopated period 3) symbolic period
• The symbolic period essentially started with Rene
Descartes
• For a long time, people, including mathematicians,
equated algebra with the study of theory of equations
=> like solving for unknowns
• In 1801, a mathematician, Karl Friedrich Gauss,
while playing with the integers, discovered a
relations between subsets of these integers. This
relation is called a congruence relation
• This discovery opened the doors for what is
referred to as the branch of mathematics dealing
with the study of mathematical systems
Algebra – The
Mechanics
• Algebra, like arithmetic, involves numbers on which
are performed operations such as addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division
• In algebra, unlike in arithmetic, we deal with
operations on unspecified or unknown numbers
that are designated by symbols or letters
 Definitions
• A variable is used to represent any element
of a given domain
• The domain of a variable contains all
allowable values of a variable
• A constant is a symbol whose domain
contains only one element
 Definitions
• An algebraic expression is a constant, a
variable or a combination of constants or
variables involving a finite number of
operations (addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, raising to a power,
extraction of a root)
 Definition
• A polynomial is an algebraic expression involving only
nonnegative- integer powers of one or more variables and
containing no variable in a denominator
• A term of a polynomial is a constant or constant multiplied
by nonnegative- integer powers of variables
• A coefficient is a factor of the product of two or more
variables
• If the coefficient is a constant, it is called a constant
coefficient
 Definition
• A term of a polynomial is a constant or constant
multiplied by nonnegative- integer powers of
variables
• A coefficient is a factor of the product of two or
more variables
• If the coefficient is a constant, it is called a
constant coefficient
 Definition
• Terms that differ only by their constant
coefficients are called like terms
• If, after combining like terms a polynomial
only has one term, it is called a monomial;
two terms = binomial, three terms =
trinomial
 Definition
• The degree of a monomial refers to the exponent of the
variable.
• If the monomial contains more than one variable, the
degree refers to the sum of the exponents present in the
monomial
• The degree of the polynomial is the same as the degree
of the term with the highest degree in the polynomial
• Because variables are used to represent real numbers, the
axioms that apply to real numbers can also be used in
variables
 Examples
• Determine the (a) type of polynomial by number
of terms (b) degree of the polynomial
– x2y + 2x3
– 3xy3z2
– 8x4 + 6x2 – 1
– 4u + 3v
 Examples
• Simplify the following algebraic expressions
– 4x2 – 5x + 6x2 – 2x
– -5(6y3 – 4y2 + y – 3)
– 3(-t2 + 3st – 2s2) – 2 (7t2 – st – s2)
– -(x-9) – 4 [3x – 2 (6+x) – 5]
 Examples
• Find the product.
– -3x2 (4x2 – 2x + 7)
– uvw (uv - 2uw + vw – 8)
– (a – 6) ( 3a2 – 4a + 2)
– (2x2 + 4x – 3)(x2 – 6x + 5)