History of technology
The Muslim scientist whose work gave us algebra and algorithms
In the 9th century, solving mathematical problems was often a collection of techniques passed between different civilizations. There was no systematic discipline called algebra, and calculations were far more difficult without a positional number system.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician working in Baghdad, changed that. Around 820 CE, he wrote Al-Jabr wa’l-Muqabala, a systematic work for solving linear and quadratic equations. The word “algebra” itself comes from al-jabr, one of the terms in the book’s title.
⌘C ⌘CDouble-copy to open KalamyHis influence went even further. In another work, he explained methods based on Hindu numerals and place-value arithmetic. When his work was later translated into Latin, the Latinized form of his name—Algoritmi—gave rise to the word “algorithm.”
Within a few centuries, his mathematical methods had traveled from Baghdad to Europe. Today, every time a computer follows an algorithm or a programmer works with algebra, they are using ideas that are part of the mathematical tradition Al-Khwarizmi helped establish.
KalamyMuhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician working in Baghdad, changed that. Around 820 CE, he wrote Al-Jabr wa’l-Muqabala, a systematic work for solving linear and quadratic equations. The word “algebra” itself comes from al-jabr, one of the terms in the book’s title.