algebra

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

al·ge·bra [algebra algebras] BrE [ˈældʒɪbrə] NAmE [ˈældʒɪbrə] noun uncountable
a type of mathematics in which letters and symbols are used to represent quantities
Derived Word: ↑algebraic

Word Origin:
late Middle English: from Italian, Spanish, and medieval Latin, from Arabic al-jabr ‘the reunion of broken parts’, ‘bone-setting’, from jabara ‘reunite, restore’. The original sense, ‘the surgical treatment of fractures’, probably came via Spanish; the mathematical sense comes from the title of a book, ‘ilm al-jabr wa'l-muqābala ‘the science of restoring what is missing and equating like with like’, by the mathematician al-K̲wārizmī (see ↑algorithm).