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English
Etymology
From Italian cossista, from the word cosa (“thing”), in reference to an unknown quantity to be determined + -ista. See rule of coss.
Noun
cossist (plural cossists)
- (historical) A practitioner of proto-algebra in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe.
2005, Amir D. Aczel, Descartes' Secret Notebook: A True Tale of Mathematics, page 121:The word "cossist" comes from the Italian cosa, meaning "thing." The cosa was the mystery that algebra was designed to solve -- it was the name given to the unknown quantity in an equation (our modern x).
2014, L. E. Sigler, Leonardo Pisano (Fibonacci): The Book of Squares, page xvii:So also were trained the Cossists and Rechenmeister of Germany in his tradition.
Adjective
cossist (not comparable)
- Pertaining to the cossists and their methods; cossic.
1989, Chikara Sasaki, Descartes's Mathematical Thought, page 90:Clavius's treatise is, first of all, reckoned as one of the textbooks of cossist algebra.
2018, Michael Sean Mahoney, The Mathematical Career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601-1665), page 5:Cossist algebra constituted essentially a sophisticated form of arithmetical problem-solving. Often it is difficult when reading a cossist text to discern where computational arithmetic leaves off and algebra begins.