Algebraic diagrams in an early sixteenth-century Catalan manuscript and their possible sources (Q1017715)

This paper presents certain diagrams that appear in a Catalan manuscript (circa 1520). In columns are posed the coefficients of polynomials and in successive columns are written the coefficients of the sum and product of these polynomials. With this technique the author of the manuscript solved certain type of equations. The rest of the article is devoted to analysis of work of al-Karaji and as-Samaw'al, and texts of the Islam, Latin people, Italians and Jews, to the search of influences on the Catalan manuscript.