Basic Algebra (Who Wrote it?)

1. Discourse de La Méthode ( Discourse on the Method ), 1637
By: René Descartes

2. Analytical Institutions, 1748
By: Maria Agnesi

3. An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, 1854
By: George Boole

4. Playing with infinity: Mathematical Explorations and Excursions, 1961
By: Rozsa Peter

5. Artis Analyticae Praxis ( Practice of the Analytic Art ), 1631
By: Thomas Harriot

6. The Whetstone of Witte, 1557
By: Robert Recorde

7. Teusche Algebra, 1659
By: Johann Rahn

8. Algebra, 1550
By: Raphael Bombelli

9. Clavis Mathematicae, 1631
By: William Oughtred

10. Al-Bahir fi'l-hisab ( The shining Book of Calculation), 1144
By: ibn yanya al-Samaw'al

11. Complete Introduction to Algebra, 1770
By: Leonhard Euler

12. Hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala ( The Science of Reunion and Reduction), about 825
By: Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

13. Shushu juizhang ( Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections), 1247

By: Qin Jiushao

14. Arithmetica Integra, 1544
By: Michael Stifel

15. In artem analyticem isagoge ( Introduction to the Analytic Art), 1591
By: Francois Viète

16. A Description on the Wonderful Law of Logarithms, 1614
By: John Napier

The fourth topic-- indices

My teacher decided to skip two levels and teach us E maths today. It was on indices, and sometimes, it could get a bit confusing, with six simple rules and one complicating rule to remember. It was mainly to add the powers during multiplication, subtract them during division, and multiply them when powered again. The rest of the rules are too long to be stated, and so I shall not include that. Common errors in the questions were: failure to multiply number when it is powered again, failure to invert fractions in negative indices. This type of indices was the most troublesome, as inverting the fration or converting it to fraction was a must. I caused quite a headache for me. Compared to the topics I've learned so far, indices is seriously difficult.

The third topic-- Equations

This topic was quite an easy one to me. The main point was to bring the algebra equation to the left and factorise it to get the letter. I was a bit confused at the start, but I continued on and found the questions getting easier and easier to me. The hard part was when I had to solve equations involving fractions, which sometimes meant cross multiplying, and that could be very difficult at times.

The second topic-- Algebra

My second topic was on algebra, and it included two chapters -- the introduction and its manipulation.
I almost fainted when I just started on the chapter introduction to algebra. It was nothing like what I had learned in primary school, with all the letters all over the place. Adding and subtracting algebra with the same letters were simple, but slowly, it came to algebra with different letters and coefficients. I had to struggle with the concepts, and at one point, I daydreamed in class. Then multiplication and division came along, but the methods were easy to grasp. I could "sail" smoothly through this period.
After that, was algebraic manipulation. I had to struggle again, as expanding and factorisation was not as easy as I thought. I gave up trying to understand how a string of algebra could become longer, and how it became shorter. Then, after a disastrous test, I worked harder and could understand some of the concepts.

The first topic-- numbers

In this topic, we learned about factors and multiples, real numbers, and approximation and estimation.
I had a little problem with factors and multiples, as I was totally new to secondary one mathematics, and I could never make heads or tails of the confusing formulas to find the highest common factors and lowest common multiples that comes together with the seemingly endless powers of numbers. I flunked the first test I had, and it was because of this chapter.
The second chapter was on real numbers. This was a bit easier, as it mostly involved only finding out if one number was larger than the other and using the number line, which I was already quite familiar with in primary school. The parts on negative numbers were a bit harder, though, as I get confused occasionally and mix up negative numbers and positive numbers. There was also problems in the multiplication of negative numbers.
Approximation and estimation was a lot easier as compared to the other topics, as it mostly was about significant figures and decimals. Decimals and significant figures have a bit of difference, though. Decimals was about numbers behind the decimal point, but significant figures included the numbers before the decimal point as well.