The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: History in Pictures

The fundamental theorem of algebra says that every nonconstant polynomial with complex coefficients has a root in the complex plane.  In this talk I will present a method of visualizing functions on the complex plane and use this method illustrate proofs by D'Alembert, Gauss, and Argand.  At the end of the talk I will describe recent work on filling a gap in Gauss's proof.