"Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra" by John Derbyshire

Wonderful title talking about the true history of Algebra.

"Wow, Kris, who even has the time to read about Math History? What a pointless subject LOL."

If a subject were "pointless," then it wouldn't have been written about, published nor praised by other publications and authors who have read it, isn't that right? I still can't fathom the illustrious hate against Math, almost like people are proud to be illogical failures. I had no idea people still use "LOL," as if what they say is actually funny—it's not.

No kidding: if mathematicians like William Rowan Hamilton were lethal mobsters laying down operations to exterminate against the math-hating societies/businesses in the world, you know how many people they'd wipe off? Think about that.

All those thoughts ran through my mind when I bought this book, knowing that I'll get slammed for reading such subject. Look, I get it, I hated Math too but that didn't mean I gave up. There's a difference. Yes, everyone has their likes and dislikes, but taking it out on me for wanting to learn about it is petty. Perhaps they know I'll master a lot of the disciplines one day....yeah, I'll take that.

The discipline of Algebra is almost a must to sustain through the real world. You may not need some, but it's best if you got by. Luckily, this title written by author John Derbyshire brought us a very nice account on the history of Algebra. In fact, Algebra was your go-to and what you needed when doing big subjects like Physics. Along the way, you learn of the slow, yet determined progress and contributions to Algebra, what theories were composed, what they wanted to define the answer(s) to and quaternions. Oh, yeah, the supposed inventor/founder of Algebra? Diophantus—a Greek who went on to apply algebraic symbols to sum up mathematical word problems. Despite what other math historians have said, author Derbyshire strongly confirms this.

The amusing part of the book is Derbyshire being referred to by another writer in how much he enjoys writing about Isaac Newton. Because of his laws of gravity? More personal than that; It's about how Newton's investment in his scientific contributions that he lived and died....a virgin. I have nothing to say about that, but I can see why he loves writing about that fact—that no female beauty crossed Newton's path enough to arouse him.

Anyway, along with the other mathematical figures known for their contributions to the subject, Derbyshire includes Primers wearing his professor hat teaching the reader various studies and disciplines of Algebra. Some of them may be too advanced for the average reader, but you'll come to terms in realizing that some of these "advanced" topics fall under the discipline of Algebra. Heck, I was surprised Vectors were under uses in Algebra, via Vector Algebra (I used to think it was only part of Calculus). Along with that, you learn about Number Theory as well, being another part of Algebra. All these fascinated me knowing that, well, if you know Algebra, you know a huge chunk already.

While I can continue to rave and talk about this book, there's so much history and many figures, some popular and some not so popular, to go through. Besides my personal favorite, William Rowan Hamilton, Derbyshire's story on Alexander Grothendieck was amazing that I wished I could contact Mr. Grothendieck to interview on our website here (he passed away in 2014). Grothendieck, despite his contributions and researches, was very political to the point where his views led him to be a hermit. He really disliked government and their operations, the US and their involvement with Vietnam....it's a lot to mention. It made me so curious that I would've liked to talk to Grothendieck, even though Derbyshire says that the now-hermit refuses to be in contact with anyone in society. (Without discussing any politics here, I wonder how loud his voice would've been speaking out on the US 2016 presidential elections, especially France's ties with the climate change program.) Include Grothendieck on the list of mathematicians/physicists who were huge pacifists. Anyway, that reading was truly fascinating because I felt like I actually wanted to talk to Grothendieck, or urge Derbyshire to ask him questions.

This is about as gentle as you can get learning about the history of Algebra. With all the praises received, I wished it was a bestseller (awarding this year's 2017 Book of the Year Award is getting tougher and tougher to decide). While the Primers includes textbook-like math lessons, it's not as bad as it seems. You may even learn something new! Other than that, this is such a nice book to have and the writing doesn't bore you with inundated, big vocabulary nor is the writing dryer than Mojave Desert. Read this, and we're sure you'll come away with something. Me personally, again, the story about Grothendieck made me stay awake all night because of his views, contributions, motives and his political views. You'll likely enjoy that read too.

I strongly recommend this book a lot!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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