Pages 202-203 (click to enlarge) of Christian Wolff's Treatise of Algebra. On these pages, Wolff discusses some elements of the theory of equations. Note that he mentions Descartes' rule of signs, without attribution to Descartes. In fact, he attributes it to Thomas Harriot and claims further that no one had yet proven it. The first published proof of the result was due to Jean Paul de Gua de Malves (1713 - 1785), who gave two proofs in 1741 in a paper in the Memoires of the Paris Academy.
Christian Wolff's Treatise of Algebra
Wolff was a student of Leibniz and is most famous for his work in philosophy. His school of philosophy, in fact, was the most prominent in Germany prior to Kant. This book was originally written in Latin in 1713. It first appeared in English in 1739, though this copy is of the second edition on 1765. Read more.
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