The symbols we use every day have fascinating and surprisingly recent origins, explains author Joseph Mazur in his new book A few years ago friends and I were talking about the origins of written ...

Algebraic notation is the standard way chess players record their moves. By Isaac Aronow The standard method of recording moves in a chess game is known as algebraic notation. The name isn’t quite ...

Diagram 1: This diagram shows all squares on the chessboard identified by their coordinates. You would notice along the sides of the board there are letters and numbers. They are used to identify ...

Algebra uses letters to represent unknown values. Unknown values are commonly represented by the letters x and y. There are several principles you need to know to be able to use algebraic notation.

THE roots of algebra, as John Derbyshire tells us, go back to the ancient world: the Babylonians left cuneiform tablets showing simple algebraic problems. Its actual birth is usually credited to ...