The importance of symbolism in the development of algebra

Abstract

This article examines some of the developments in arithmetic and algebraic symbolism (the equal sign, plus and minus signs, exponents of an unknown) which made possible a noteworthy brevity in exposition and consequently greater ease of learning. Light is also shed on the contribution of symbolism to the development of mathematics, particularly of algebra, by means of its detachment from geometry and the inductive development that this made possible, for example, in the natural extension of the degrees of an equation.