You might be most familiar with “x” from math class. Many algebra problems use “x” as a variable to stand in for an unknown quantity. But why is “x” the letter chosen for this role?

Praxis the robot and Alan the “human man” lead the letter X through the development of algebra from Ancient Egypt to Rene Descartes. Discuss the development of algebra as a practical way of ...

"Our solution reopens a previously closed book in mathematics history," Wildberger said in ... Wildberger contends that these don't belong to pure algebra. He points to the issue of the classical ...

dealing with numeral notation and arithmetic, which was issued in 1935, and noticed in NATURE of January 18, 1936, p. 88; the present volume (Part 2) contains the history of algebra.