The algebraic content of Bento Fernandes's Tratado da arte de arismetica (1555)

Abstract: The principal aim of this paper is to shed some light on the algebraic content of the Tratado da arte de arismetica by Bento Fernandes, which was published in Porto in 1555 and is the earliest treatise of a Portuguese author that has come down to us in which algebra is studied. Since it therefore constitutes an important testimony of the state of development of algebra in Portugal in the middle of the 16th century, it deserves special attention. At a time when Pacioli''s Summa, the first printed text that includes algebraic methods, was already so diffuse, it is surprising that it turns out not to have been the source of the algebraic material of Bento Fernandes. The comparative study I have carried out between the Tratado da arte de arismetica and a number of abacus books from the 14th and the 15th centuries shows that Bento Fernandes''s algebra had its origin in abacus manuscripts antedating the Summa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]