<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>13</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Heeffer, Albrecht</style></author></authors><secondary-authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Heeffer, Albrecht</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Van Dyck, Maarten</style></author></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">From the second unknown to the symbolic equation</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Philosophical Aspects of Symbolic Reasoning in Early Modern Mathematics</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2010</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">College Publications</style></publisher><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">26</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">57–102</style></pages><isbn><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">978-1-84890-017-2</style></isbn><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;The symbolic equation slowly emerged during the course of the sixteenth century as a new mathematical concept as well as a mathematical object on which new operations were made possible. Where historians have of- ten pointed at Francois Viète as the father of symbolic algebra, we would like to emphasize the foundations on which Viète could base his &lt;em&gt;logistica speciosa.&lt;/em&gt; The period between Cardanos &lt;em&gt;Practica Arithmeticae&lt;/em&gt; of 1539 and Gosselins &lt;em&gt;De arte magna&lt;/em&gt; of 1577 has been crucial in providing the necessary build- ing blocks for the transformation of algebra from rules for problem solving to the study of equations. In this paper we argue that the so-called second unknown or the &lt;em&gt;Regula quantitates&lt;/em&gt; steered the development of an adequate symbolism to deal with multiple unknowns and aggregates of equations. Dur- ing this process the very concept of a symbolic equation emerged separate from previous notions of what we call co-equal polynomials.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract></record></records></xml>