Intro to Algebra

There really is a LOT to learn about Algebra that I had know idea about! I would really like to tell you all of it but since I can't you will have to watch the video!

This is a quote that really sums up Algebra and what it means and was said by the famous Galileo Galilei:

"Philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eye- I mean the universe- but we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols, in which it is written. This book is written in the mathematical language. . . . without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth."

There is a lot of controversy about who is the "father" of Algebra, al-kwarizmi or Diophantus. The first records of people really exploring the ideas that are hit upon in algebra came from ancient Babylon about 2000 years before the common era. Although Diophantus really pin pointed algebra and he lived many years before al-kwatizmi, al-kwaitzmi wrote a book about algebra and  he was the first to use the name Algebra, which is why there is controversy about who is the "father" of Algebra.

A good word to use to describe Algebra is the word Abstract. When you hear abstract you probably think of art, like an abstract painting, but there are other things that abstract can stand for. When you think of the number five what comes to your mind? You might think of this, 5, or five, or maybe even IIIII. When in reality all of these mean five, five could be almost anything, the word, the number, five blueberries, etc. A good way to separate abstract is by realizing what we have in the real world and they labels we have for things are completely different from the ideas and the concepts of those things.

I think this is a very good video and is definitely worth watching if you want an intro to Algebra. I learned a lot of things I didn't know and are important to know.