One way to defend "minus x" against "negative x" is to say that "minus x" is short for "0 minus x". There is a historical precedent for this. In Bombelli's L'algebra of 1572 (the book in which he successfully reconciles explains the occurrence of imaginary numbers in formulas that represent real roots of cubic equations) he writes $-1$ as 0 m 1.
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2 | Replaced "reconciles" with "explains" | ||
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One way to defend "minus x" against "negative x" is to say that "minus x" is short for "0 minus x". There is a historical precedent for this. In Bombelli's L'algebra of 1572 (the book in which he successfully reconciles the occurrence of imaginary numbers in formulas that represent real roots of cubic equations) he writes $-1$ as 0 m 1. |
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