Al-Khwārizmī << al KWAHR ihz mee >> (780?-850?), a Persian mathematician, wrote one of the first algebra texts. He also wrote a book that helped popularize a system of numbering originally used in India. This system, later known as the Hindu-Arabic system, is in common use throughout the world today (see Arabic numerals). Translations of al-Khwārizmī‘s works helped spread mathematical knowledge from India and the Middle East into Europe.
Al-Khwārizmī’s book on algebra provided systematic methods for solving quadratic equations, mathematical statements using squared variables, such as x2 or y2. It also applied algebra to geometry and problems of inheritance. The word algebra comes from the book’s title. The title contains the word al-jabr, Arabic for completion or restoration, which over time became algebra.
Al-Khwārizmī’s name suggests he or his family came from Khorezm, now western Uzbekistan. At the time, Khorezm lay within the historic region of Persia and was ruled by the Abbasid caliphate, an Islamic empire. His full name was Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī. He did much of his writing and research at the House of Wisdom, a Baghdad library and research center founded by the Abbasid ruler al-Ma’mūn around 815.
See also Algebra (History); Mathematics (In the Middle East).
