Juan de Alcega is remembered in mathematics for work the next generation could build on.
The record lists Juan de Alcega as Spanish 16th century mathematician.
Juan de Alcega was born at Hondarribia in 1550. His recorded nationality is Spain.
Symbolic algebra was taking shape in this period, and printing let a proof reach mathematicians who would never meet its author.
Mathematics accumulates without discarding: a proof from two thousand years ago is still a proof.
That the work was done from Spain matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Juan de Alcega died in 1580, aged 30. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
