Overview

Important mathematical developments occurred during the sixteenth century, but it was not clear how to fit them into the framework of classical mathematics, which was still used as the center of the curriculum. In particular, the work in algebra did not look like part of the system of axioms and theorems used to set out the discipline of geometry. The French mathematician François Viète (1540-1603) presented the new mathematics in a way that could make it acceptable to those who insisted on having a classical background for mathematics. Thanks to his work, algebra could thereafter be presented in a way that was both easier to explain and to extend to further new results.

Background

In the sixteenth century a number of Italian mathematicians made advances in the branch of mathematics devoted to solving equations. Perhaps...