Algebras

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A branch of mathematics dealing with symbols and the rules for manipulating those symbols
2. A system of mathematical structures consisting of sets and operations that follow certain axioms
3. A field that studies structures, such as groups and rings, and their properties through symbolic representations

Etymology: "Algebras" is simply the plural of "algebra," the branch of mathematics dealing with symbols and the rules for manipulating them. The plural names the various structures studied within that field, such as the systems that mathematicians classify as distinct algebras. The noun itself traces back to a single book title. Al-Khwarizmi, the Persian scholar working in Baghdad, wrote a famous treatise whose title included the phrase "al-jabr," meaning something like "reunion" or "resetting of broken parts." The word referred to moving terms across an equation to restore balance, an operation at the heart of solving problems. Medieval Latin writers borrowed the term as "algebra," and it passed into English from there. Over time the word shifted from naming one technique to naming an entire discipline. Its Arabic root, "jabara," meant to set or mend something broken, a physical sense that the mathematical meaning carries forward in abstract form.

Synonyms: mathematics, calculations