I think it was probably the first hints of polynomials that could stand on their own without a sane geometric interpretation. As in, "this makes no geometric se

I think it was probably the first hints of polynomials that could stand on their own without a sane geometric interpretation. As in, "this makes no geometric sense, but I can use the same geometry-based techniques I used on squares and cubes, and it all works out, so let's just go with it." Another way to interpret it could be, "okay, take this cube with a volume, take that volume and pretend it's actually the width of another special mega-cube and never mix mega-cubes and regular cubes".