Trattato dell’Alcibra Amuchabile (anonimo): A Guided Translation

The Trattato dell'Alcibra Amuchabile is a pre-modern algebra text from c. 1365. It is written in a Tuscan dialect of Italian and is situated in the abbacus school tradition, schools that taught the mathematics needed for a mercantile society. Like all the algebra written in Italy at the time, it was inherited from al-Khwarizmi and, like his, written with no symbols-no x's, y's, plus signs, etc. It was what is sometimes called "rhetorical algebra." There is very little source material available in English from this important era in the history of algebra. This book helps fill that gap. The translation is faithful to the idiom of rhetorical algebra and keeps the rhythms of the original Italian. The book also includes ancillary material that covers the early history of algebra, a careful guide to reading the idiom of pre-modern algebra, exercises exploring the mathematics of the text, and excerpts from related medieval texts that provide a cultural context for the work. The book is intended to serve as source material for students in a History of Mathematics course and as a source of projects within such course.