0619031 - FLÚ 2026 CH eng M - Monography Chapter
Kvasz, Ladislav
Symbolic Algebra as a Semiotic System.
Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Mathematical Practice. Cham: Springer, 2024 - (Sriraman, B.), s. 3101-3133. ISBN 978-3-031-40845-8
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : logical power * expresive power * integrative power * pictorial form * epistemic subject * symbolic algebra
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Result website:
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40846-5_65DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40846-5_65

The invention of symbolic algebra in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries fundamentally changed the way we do mathematics. If we want to understand this change and appreciate its importance, we must analyze it on two levels. One concerns the compositional function of algebraic symbols as tools for representing complexity, the other concerns the referential function of algebraic symbols, which enables their use as tools for describing objects (such as polynomials), properties (such as irreducibility), relations (such as divisibility), and operations (such as factorization). The reconstruction of both the compositional function and the referential function of algebraic symbols requires the use of different analytic tools and the taking of different temporal perspectives. In this chapter, we offer both: a reconstruction of the compositional function of algebraic symbols, and a reconstruction of their referential function.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0366129