The Theory of Equations and the Complex Variable

Abstract

THIS volume contains an introduction to the theory of algebraic equations as the subject was known to mathematicians of half a century ago. It gives the usual theory of cubic and biquadratic equations, Fourier's and Sturm's methods of separating the real roots, also chapters on symmetric functions of the roots, determinants, and elimination. The only methods of numerical solution considered are those of Newton, Lagrange (by continued fractions), and Horner. Great advances in this branch of the subject have been made in the last twenty years, so the book is distinctly out-of-date on the numerical side. Its only novel feature lies in the inclusion of the equations satisfied by the sum and difference of two roots of an equation. The Theory of Equations and the Complex Variable. By Prof. Rai Charan Biswas. Pp. viii + 269. (Calcutta: Chuckervertty, Chatterjee and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 3.8 rupees.