How Algebra became abstract: George Peacock and the birth of modern algebra in England (1830)

In this article we look at the ideas of George Peacock whose 700-page opus A Treatise on Algebra (1830) transformed algebra into an abstract symbolic science, free from the physical interpretation of quantity that had previously restricted it. Peacock’s Treatise laid the foundation for the new science (Ch1-7) and rebuilt upon this the mathematical corpus [Read More...]