algebra

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin algebra, from the Arabic word الْجَبْر (al-jabr, “reunion, resetting of broken parts”) in the title of al-Khwarizmi's influential work الْكِتَاب الْمُخْتَصَر فِي حِسَاب الْجَبْر وَالْمُقَابَلَة (al-kitāb al-muḵtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala, “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.dʒɪ.bɹə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.d͡ʒɪ.bɹə/, /ˈæl.d͡ʒə.bɹə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

algebra (countable and uncountable, plural algebras)

2. (uncountable, mathematics) Elementary algebra: A system for representing and manipulating unknown quantities (variables) in equations.
   • 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society.‎, volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217:

     Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not only vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.

   • 1854, George Boole, “Signs and their Laws”, in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities‎, London: Walton and Maberly, page 37:

     Let us conceive, then, of an Algebra in which the symbols x, y, z, &c. admit indifferently of the values 0 and 1, and of these values alone.

3. (uncountable, mathematics, sometimes capitalized) Abstract algebra: A broad field of study in modern mathematics (often mentioned alongside analysis) loosely characterized by its concern for abstraction and symmetry, dealing with the behavior, classification, and application of a large class of objects (called algebraic structures) and the maps between them (called, most generally, morphisms).
4. (countable, mathematics, algebra) Any of several objects of study in Algebra
   1. A universal algebra.
   2. An algebraic structure consisting of a module over a commutative ring (or a vector space over a field) along with an additional binary operation that is bilinear over module (or vector) addition and scalar multiplication.

      Synonyms: algebra over a field, algebra over a ring

5. (countable, set theory, mathematical analysis) A collection of subsets of a given set, such that this collection contains the empty set, and the collection is closed under unions and complements (and thereby also under intersections and differences).

   Synonyms: field of sets, algebra of sets

   Hypernym: ring

   Hyponym: σ-algebra

6. (figurative) A system or process (especially one that is complex or convoluted) that substitutes one thing for another, or uses signs or symbols to represent concepts or ideas.
   • 1663, William Clark, edited by William Hugh Logan, Marciano; or, The discovery: A tragi-comedy‎, Edinburgh: Reprinted for Private Circulation, published 1871, →ISBN, page 13:

     Fly ! Fly ! avaunt with that base cowardly gibbrish ; That Algebra of honour ; which had never Been nam'd, if all had equal courage—what?

7. (uncountable, medicine, historical, rare) The surgical treatment of a dislocated or fractured bone. Also (countable): a dislocation or fracture.
   • a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie."‎, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63:

     Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   • 1987, John Newsome Crossley, “Latency”, in The emergence of number‎, Singapore: World Scientific, →ISBN, Al-Khwarizwi, page 65:

     Algebra is used today by surgeons to mean bone-setting, i.e. the restoration of bones, and the idea of restoration is present in the mathematical context, too.

Anagrams

• Labarge

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr, “reunion, resetting of broken parts”); see also the English algebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈalɡɛbra]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

algebra f

1. algebra

Further reading

• “algebra”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “algebra”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin algebra, from Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr).

Noun

algebra c (singular definite algebraen, not used in plural form)

1. (mathematics) algebra (using symbols)
2. (mathematics) algebra (study of algebraical structures)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch algebra, from Latin algebra, from Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑl.ɣəˌbraː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧ge‧bra

Noun

algebra f (uncountable)

1. (mathematics) algebra

   Synonyms: stelkunde, stelkunst

Etymology

From New Latin algebra, from Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑlɡebrɑ/, [ˈɑ̝lɡe̞brɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑlɡebrɑ
• Hyphenation^(key): al‧geb‧ra

Noun

algebra

1. algebra

Further reading

• “algebra”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02