"Algebra is the offer made by the devil to the mathematician. The devil says: `I will give you this powerful machine, …"

"The historical associations of the word algebra almost substantiate the sordid character of the subject. The word com…"

"[T]he sciences that are expressed by numbers or by other small signs, are easily learned; and... this facility rather…"

"The motives which give rise to the use of alphabetic letters as symbols of number in preference to any other system o…"

"But mathematicians know that the number system we study in school is but one of many possibilities. And indeed, other…"

"It is nearly irresistible to ask if the octonions, \mathbb O, the last of the set of four normed division algebras ov…"

"The octonions are much stranger. Not only are they noncommutative, they are also break another familiar law of arithm…"

"The real numbers are the dependable breadwinner of the family, the complete ordered field we all rely on. The complex…"

"But perhaps most important, it wasn’t clear in Hamilton’s time just what the octonions would be good for. They are cl…"

"Despite its counter-culture status, the octonions have long drawn the curiosity of generations of physicists. The alg…"