4585 AM · 825 CE · world history
Al-Khwarizmi and algebra
Al-Khwarizmi writes the book of al-jabr, from whose title algebra grew.
A mathematician from Khwarezm working in Baghdad composes a manual for solving equations: he reduces problems to a few standard types and demonstrates the operations of al-jabr, restoration, and al-muqabala, balancing. From the first word came algebra; from the Latin rendering of his name, the word algorithm. Another of his books explains the Indian numerals with zero and positional reckoning—the arithmetic we use to this day. He also compiles astronomical tables and a map of the inhabited world; in Europe his texts are studied into the sixteenth century.
Sources
Documents of the period
- documents and chronicles of the period — the book al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala itself
Scholarship
- general histories of the region — “algebra” and “algorithm” — words born in Baghdad
Basis: documents and evidence.