Chapter 2: Algebra

Overview

Extending naturally from arithmetic, algebra is a wide-ranging and varied branch of mathematics with a versatile use and important place in the world of programming. It is particularly helpful in reasoning about numbers and values and for representing formulae, and these ideas lead to a more natural understanding of programming languages. This book covers algebra insofar as will generally be helpful in programming, but the reader should be aware that algebra is so broad a field I cannot hope to summarize or condense the entire subject into a single chapter. To find out more about algebra, see Appendix F for a list of recommended books. This chapter explores the following topics in algebra:

• What is algebra

• Formulae

• Linear equations

• Directed numbers

• Variables and literals

• Exponents