[kralcmot]

if "x" is to "y" as "y" is to "z", what is "a?"

[jim_trent]

IBFT Zot

[msnimje]

Z*O*T=B*Y*E

[saganite]

As opposed to the Catholic sect composed of the set of all Cardinal numbers.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

algebra
1551, from M.L. from Arabic al jebr "reunion of broken parts" as in computation, used 9c. by Baghdad mathematician Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi as the title of his famous treatise on equations ("Kitab al-Jabr w'al-Muqabala" "Rules of Reintegration and Reduction"), which also introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The accent shifted 17c. from second syllable to first. The word was used in Eng. 15c.-16c. to mean "bone-setting," probably from the Arabs in Spain.

[MikefromOhio]

And the anti-derivative of this post is ZOT!

[AppyPappy]

Algebran?

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Al-Gore-Rhythms??

[JohnCliftn]

an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher

No doubt NEA member, hence desrving of arrest.

IBTZ?

[humblegunner]

I shall fight against al-gebra to my last breath.

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

What of Al-Gebra's wicked cousin, Cal-Culus? Any word on his capture?

[Grut]

if "x" is to "y" as "y" is to "z", what is "a?"

What is a what?

[freedumb2003]

"Basketball is a peaceful planet!"

(LOL -- I love esoteric humor)

[avg_freeper]

what is "a?"

A "?" is a punctuation mark placed at the end of a question.

[rock58seg]

The end of a Canadian sentence.

[NerdDad]

ping

[expatpat]

You have to really worry most about the hard-line group within Al-Gebra, know as Al-Gorithm.

[wintertime]

At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Slide rule? Really?

[LonePalm]

A dozen, a gross, and a score,
Plus three times the square root of four,
Divided by seven,
Plus five times 11
Is nine squared, and not a bit more.

((12 + 144 + 20 + 6) / 7) + 55 = 9² = 81
(182 / 7) + 55 = 81
(26 + 55) = 81

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Professional Engineer]

What an oblique tale.

[pyx]

From: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/65172.html
Who invented algebra ?
It depends on what you mean by "algebra"! And that's exactly how D. E. Smith starts his chapter on the subject in his "History of Mathematics, volume 2":

When we speak of the early history of algebra it is necessary to consider first of all the meaning of the term. If by algebra we mean the science which allows us to solve the equation ax^2+bx+c=0, expressed in these symbols, then the history begins in the 17th century;
(NOT the the 6th century as some would suggest. -pyx)
if we remove the restriction as to these particular signs, and allow for other and less convenient symbols, we might properly begin the history in the 3rd century; if we allow for the solution of the above equation by geometric methods, without algebraic symbols of any kind, we might say that algebra begins with the Alexandrian School (The School of Alexandria (300 B.C.E. -- 200 A.D.) or a little earlier; and if we say that we should class as algebra any problem that we should now solve by algebra (even though it was at first solved by mere guessing or by some cumbersome arithmetic process), then the science was known about 1800 B.C., and probably still earlier.

He goes on to cover the earliest aspects briefly, mentioning such names as Ahmes, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Mahavira, Liu Hui, Sun-Tzi, Heron, Diophantus, al-Khowarizmi, and so on. Each of these made a contribution at some level.