"[I]n 1575 Western Europe had recovered most of the major mathematical works of antiquity now extant. Arabic algebra had been... mastered and improved... through the solution of the cubic and quartic and through... partial... symbolism; and trigonometry had become an independent discipline. The time was almost ripe for rapid strides... The transition from the Renaissance to the modern world was... made through... intermediate figures, a few of the more important... Galileo Galilei... and ... from Italy; several... as .., Thomas Harriot.., and ... were English; two... Simon Stevin... and ... were Flemish; others came from varied lands—John Napier... from Scotland, Jobst Bürgi... from Switzerland, and Johann Kepler... from Germany."