The origins of algebra can be traced to the ancient Babylonians, who developed a positional number system that greatly aided them in solving their rhetorical algebraic equations. Algebra has its roots in the theory of quadratic equations which obtained its original and quite full development in ancient Akkad (Mesopotamia) at least 3800 years ago. In Antiq- uity, this earliest Algebra greatly influenced Greeks1 and, later, Hindus. Its name, however, is of Arabic origin.
