I am reading this book "Traité du calcul différentiel et du calcul intégral" of Lacroix and came across this definition of a function. There are two terms I don't know how to translate:
Toute quantité dont la valeur dépend d'une ou de plusieurs autres quantités, est dite fonction de ces dernières, soit qu'on sache ou qu'on ignore par quelles opérations il faut passer pour remonter de celles-ci à la première.
My translation:
Any quantity of which the value is depend upon one or multiple other quantities is said to be the function of the latters, either we know or not know by which operations that have to be...
I don't understand the part "il faut passer" and "remonter" here. How to translate these parts in English?
Is my translation good as a whole or it is defective in some respects? My translation sounds kind of awkward even in English.