ROBERT RECORDE. 211 



somewhat accurately his true place in the history of 

 that science. Of the antiquities of algebra nothing need 

 here be said, unless, perhaps, it is worth while to note 

 that the art probably was born in Hindostan, and that its 

 present name is that given to it by the Arabs, through 

 whom it reached Europe. The Arabic name "al-jebr" is 

 a term which denotes one method of reducing equations, 

 namely by transposing or adding the negative terms so as 

 to make them all affirmative. From the Moors algebra 

 came first into Europe by way of Italy and Spain. The 

 first person known to have brought the art into Italy 

 before there existed printed books was Leonard Bonacci, 

 of Pisa, who composed an arithmetic in the year 1202, and 

 wrote more on the subject twenty-six years afterwards, 

 adding some information upon algebra, the knowledge of 

 which extended then only to the solution of equations of 

 the first and second degree. Bonacci's language was a 

 barbarous mixture of Latin with Italian, and there was in 

 his time no notation by the use of signs. From Pisa the 

 art spread through Tuscany and Italy, so that there were 

 authors who obtained much reputation in it before there 

 was any press from which their works could issue. 



The first printed author upon algebra 1 was a cordelier, 



1 After the discovery of printing, in mathematics, as in other depart- 

 ments of learning, the press was at first employed chiefly in the repro- 

 duction of the writings of the ancients. In 1505, Luca de Borgo trans- 

 lated Euclid. In 1518, Plato of Tivoli translated the Spherics of Tlieo- 



P2 



