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Mathematics is, let’s face it, a dry sub-ject, with little in the way of glamouror romance. ” Thus John Derbyshire begins chapter 11 of Unknown Quantity, his new history of algebra. Of course, Derbyshire [a systems analyst, columnist, and writer (1)] does not really believe this, or he would not even attempt to tell the story of algebra in a manner accessible to the “curious nonmathe-matician. ” In fact, the book demonstrates quite the opposite, that algebra in particular is a very exciting subject, developed by interesting characters and full of exciting ideas—many of which lie at the base of modern science. Derbyshire’s clear prose takes us from the Alexandria of Diophantus to the Baghdad of al-Khwa rizm