Inexplicable? The status of complex numbers in Britain, 1750--1850 (Q2762099)

In this collection of articles focusing on and around C. Wessel and the geometric representation of complex numbers, Adrian Rice offers a brief survey of the process of legitimation of complex numbers in Britain from 1750 up to 1850. Hinting at the influence of Locke, Berkeley and Kant on the shaping of algebra in Britain at that time, the author comments in chronological order upon the contributions of fifteen British mathematicians, with special attention to the largely neglected work of J. Warren and J. T. Graves. Rice questions the novelty of Peacock's symbolic approach to algebra, to conclude with the British search for triplets and quaternions. Drawing on a rich bibliography, the author challenges further study of the peculiar British attitude towards the foundation of complex numbers, and algebra at large, during this transitional period, fully aware that the subject `still awaits a definite history' (p. 149). In fact, the status of algebra in Britain at that time is much more intricate than the scope of this brief survey allows the author to allude to, a subject apparently connected not only with philosophy and the calculus, but also with the study of differential equations and operators, logic and above all the current epistemological debates concerning the teaching of mechanics, algebra and logic.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0970.00008].