Greek mathematical thought and the origin of algebra - Klein, Jacob, 1934-; Brann, Eva; Smith, J. Winfree; Viète, François, 1540-1603 (Cambridge (Mass.) : MIT press, 1968)
Important study focuses on the revival and assimilation of ancient Greek mathematics in the 13th-16th centuries, via Arabic science, and the 16th-century development of symbolic algebra. This brought about the crucial change in the concept of number that made possible modern science - in which the symbolic "form" of a mathematical statement is completely inseparable from its "content" of physical meaning. Includes a translation of Vieta's Introduction to the Analytical Art.