Today I Found Out
Why is X Generally the Unknown in Mathematics? (2018x17)
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In this video:
Algebra was born in the Middle East, during the Golden Age of medieval Islamic civilization (750 to 1258 AD), and its early form can be seen in the work of Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi and his 9th century book, Kitab al-jabr wal-muqabala (al-jabr later morphing into algebra in English). During this heyday, Muslim rule and culture had expanded onto the Iberian Peninsula, where the Moors encouraged scholarship in the sciences and math.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/11/origins-mathematical-convention-using-x-unknown/
Sources:
http://www.storyofmathematics.com/islamic_alkhwarizmi.html
http://www.corestandards.org/standards-in-your-state/
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/confusing-math-homework-don-t-blame-the-common-core/360064/
http://www.storyofmathematics.com/17th_descartes.html
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors
http://www.seanmathmodelguy.com/?p=655
http://www.ted.com/talks/terry_moore_why_is_x_the_unknown/transcript?language=en
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/math99/math99228.htm
http://www.livescience.com/15004-represents-unknown-quantity-variable.html
http://io9.com/why-do-we-use-the-letter-x-to-represent-the-unknown-1588933259
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X
http://mathoverflow.net/questions/30307/explanation-why-x-y-z-are-always-variables/30414#30414
http://jeff560.tripod.com/variables.html
http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php/Mathematical_symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum
https://ed.stanford.edu/news/poor-ra