For curious nonmathematicians and armchair algebra buffs, John Derbyshire discovers the story behind the formulae, roots, and radicals. As he did so masterfully in Prime Obsession, Derbyshire brings the evolution of mathematical thinking to dramatic life by focusing on the key historical players. Unknown Quantity begins in the time of Abraham and Isaac and moves from Abel’s proof to the higher levels of abstraction developed by Galois through modern-day advances. Derbyshire explains how a simple turn of thought from “this plus this equals this” to “this plus what equals this?” gave birth to a whole new way of perceiving the world.

With a historian’s narrative authority and a beloved teacher’s clarity and passion, Derbyshire leads readers on an intellectually satisfying and pleasantly challenging journey through the development of abstract mathematical thought.

Algebra emerged early in recorded history, stepping aside from the declarative to create the interrogative, a process that has led to fascination and even obsession. Derbyshire, a mathematician and linguist by education and systems analyst by profession, starts with the algebra of about 4,000 years ago and works up to Diophantus, whose place as the father of algebra may be disputed but whose contributions nevertheless are universally admired, then through Hypatia, Cardano, Descartes, Newton, von Leibniz, Lagrange, Cauchy, Abel, Galois, Riemann, Lie, Poincar�, Hilbert, NoetherLefschetz, Zariski, MacLane and Grothendieck, along with a host of other luminaries, giving readers accessible descriptions of their discoveries and even providing non-specialists with extra help on basics such as vector spaces, field theory and algebraic geometry. The result is concise, readable, and enjoyable. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Both compelling and easy to follow. (Library Journal)

Written for those who are unencumbered by a fear of formulae, this volume presents a history of algebra that is intellectually satisfying and pleasantly challenging.

JOHN DERBYSHIRE is a mathematician and linguist by education, a systems analyist by profession, and the celebrated author of Prime Obsession, a mathematical biography of Bernhard Riemann, and the highly acclaimed novel Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream. His work appears frequently in National Review and The New Criterion.