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THIS really is a history of algebra, but don’t be scared. The story of algebra is the story of civilisation itself: like a barometer of enlightenment, it has flourished in all the great cultures. A world away from schoolroom tedium, John Derbyshire’s Unknown Quantity buzzes with rivalries, frustrations and breakthroughs. As with his excellent Prime Obsession, there are equations aplenty, but this is all to the good: the mix of narrative and hands-on mathematical alchemy amounts to more than the sum of its parts. A first-rate account that even algebraphobes will struggle to fault.