Re: [HM] the importance of notation
Abe Shenitzer (shenitze@pascal.math.yorku.ca)
Wed, 12 May 1999 10:54:48 -0400 (EDT)
This is my response to the latest batch of HM letters on math. notation.
The January 1999 and March 1999 issues of the MONTHLY contain two
splendid articles which together trace the evolution of algebraic notation
due to Diophantus, Vieta, and Descartes.
The articles are taken from a book-length essay on the history of algebra
written by Bashmakova and Smirnova and published in 1997. My translation
of this essay will be published by the MAA.
(The articles are items in the column "The Evolution of...", which
I have been editing for the MONTHLY beginning in 1994.)
Abe Shenitzer