cossist

plural cossists

1. historicalA practitioner of proto-algebra in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe.

   So also were trained the Cossists and Rechenmeister of Germany in his tradition.

   2014, L. E. Sigler, Leonardo Pisano (Fibonacci): The Book of Squares, page xvii

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   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).

   2005, Amir D. Aczel, Descartes' Secret Notebook: A True Tale of Mathematics, page 121

1. not comparablePertaining to the cossists and their methods; cossic.

   Clavius's treatise is, first of all, reckoned as one of the textbooks of cossist algebra.

   1989, Chikara Sasaki, Descartes's Mathematical Thought, page 90

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   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.

   2018, Michael Sean Mahoney, The Mathematical Career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601-1665), page 5