Algebraical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A branch of mathematics centered around symbols and their manipulation is defined as the study of relationships between numbers and variables through equations
2. It pertains to a system that uses letters and symbols to represent numbers in mathematical expressions and equations
3. Connected with the branch of mathematics dealing with symbols and the rules for manipulating those symbols

Etymology: The root is "algebra", which itself came into English from medieval Latin, borrowed from Arabic "al-jabr", meaning "the reunion of broken parts" and drawn from a title of a treatise on solving equations by al-Khwarizmi. The Arabic word, once a term for setting a broken bone, gave mathematics its name for balancing and restoring equations, and "algebraical" grew from that stem. The adjective is formed in one of two ways, and the source leaves open which path it took: either from Latin "algebraicus", or from "algebra" with the adjective-making suffix "-ical" added. Both routes produce the same sense, so the word reads as a plain descriptive label for anything belonging to the study of algebra. Its sense is narrow and technical. It describes the handling of symbols and the rules that govern them, rather than numbers in the everyday sense. The longer "-ical" form has long existed alongside the shorter "algebraic", and the two are interchangeable in meaning.

Synonyms: algebraic