Marcus du Sautoy uses combinations of peaches and plums and a set of scales, to show how simultaneous equations can be solved. This method didn’t appear in the West until the 19th century, but had ...

Equations that have more than one unknown can have an infinite number of solutions. For example, \(2x + y = 10\) could be solved by: \(x = 1\) and \(y = 8\) \(x = 2\) and \(y = 6\) \(x = 3\) and \(y = ...