a branch of mathematics in which letters, symbols, etc representing various entities are combined in equations and formulas according to special rules of operation
a system of representing logical arguments in symbols
algebraic adj
algebraist noun
medieval Latin algebra from Arabic al-jabr, literally ‘the reduction’ (of fractures). The mathematical sense comes from the title of a ninth-cent. Arabic treatise Ýihm al-jabr wa'l-muḳ ā bala ‘The science of restoring what is missing and equating like with like’, by al-Khuwārizmi: see algorithm