Algebra
/ˈældʒɪbrə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA part of mathematics using letters and symbols for unknown numbers.
Extra definitions
nounA branch of mathematics using letters and symbols.
nounA method for solving equations.
nounMathematical operations with unknown quantities.
Sentence Examples
We studied algebra at school.
Algebra helps us solve for x.
This algebra problem is challenging.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
None
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Medieval Latin algebra, from the Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr, “reunion, resetting of broken parts”) in the title of al-Khwarizmi's influential work الْكِتَاب الْمُخْتَصَر فِي حِسَاب الْجَبْر وَالْمُقَابَلَة (al-kitāb al-muḵtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala, “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
“Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not only vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.”
— 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society., volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217:
“Let us conceive, then, of an Algebra in which the symbols x, y, z, &c. admit indifferently of the values 0 and 1, and of these values alone.”
— 1854, George Boole, “Signs and their Laws”, in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, London: Walton and Maberly, page 37:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
We studied ____ at school.