Algebra originated in Baghdad. The mathematician Huala Mozi has produced two masterpieces handed down from generation to generation-one is called Huala Mozi Arithmetic, and the other is called Algar Barra and Al Mukabara, with strange titles. Later, these two books, written in Arabic, spread to western Europe and became widely used mathematics textbooks in western European countries after translation.
The second one, at that time, the academic circles in western Europe thought the full name was too awkward, so they changed the title to Alge? Bra, as the name of a specific subject, is still used in the west.
Missionaries in China in the early Qing Dynasty transliterated it as Alge Bala, which looked like Manchu. From then on, this strange term flashed in China for nearly two hundred years, until Li entered history.
Li, a native of Ningxian County, Zhejiang Province, was born in 18 1 1 and died in 1882. He loved mathematics since childhood, and later studied the first six volumes of Matteo Ricci's translation and other arithmetic books, and gained a lot of experience. Later, in cooperation with the British missionary William, he translated the last 9 volumes of Geometry Elements. This project greatly improved Li's math skills.
1859, Lan once again collaborated with William to translate the new book Ele? Elements means principle, but what about algebra? Li didn't stick to the rules. He translated algebra, a transliteration word used in Europe for nearly a thousand years, into "algebra" for the first time!
Li's extraordinary creativity stems from a simple understanding: the characteristic of algebra is to use the symbol "generation" instead of "number"