Page:Philosophy and Fun of Algebra.djvu/19

 CHAPTER II THE MAKING OF ALGEBRAS

Arabs had some cousins who lived not far off from Arabia and who called themselves Hebrews. A taste for Algebra seems to have run in the family. Three Algebras grew up among the Hebrews; I should think they are the grandest and most useful that ever were heard of or dreamed of on earth.

One of them has been worked into the roots of all our science; the second is much discussed among persons who have leisure to be very learned. The third has hardly yet begun to be used or understood in Europe; learned men are only just beginning to think about what it really means. All children ought to know about at least the first of these.

But, before we begin to talk about the Hebrew Algebras, there are two or three things that we must be quite clear about.

Many people think that it is impossible to make 15