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Algebra   (English)

Definition (keystage 2)

The noticing of patterns and describing them in words and pictures. That part of mathematics that uses symbols to represent quantities which may be known or unknown.
It is the branch of elementary mathematics that generalises arithmetic by using variables to range over the numbers.
This branch of mathematics was first written about by Diophantus of Alexandria in 3 AD. Algebra was used in ancient Babylon, Egypt, and India. It was brought to Europe by the Arabs.

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