, in Algebra, is the reducing a compound equation, or quantity, to a more simple form of expression. This is done either to save room, or the trouble of writing a number of symbols; or to simplisy the expression, either to ease the memory, or to render the formula more easy and general.
So the equation , by putting p = a, q = ab, and r = abc, becomes
And the equation , by putting , and , becomes .
· 
· 
ABCDEFGHKLMNOPQRSTWXYZABCEGLMN
Entry taken from A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary, by Charles Hutton, 1796.
This text has been generated using commercial OCR software, and there are still many problems; it is slowly getting better over time. Please don't reuse the content (e.g. do not post to wikipedia) without asking liam at holoweb dot net first (mention the colour of your socks in the mail), because I am still working on fixing errors. Thanks!