Questions about Al-Khwarizmi
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who was Al-Khwarizmi and why is he called the father of algebra?
Al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician born around 780 who worked during the Islamic Golden Age, producing Arabic-language works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. He has been described as the father or founder of algebra because he was the first to treat algebra as an independent discipline and introduced the methods of reduction and balancing. Solomon Gandz argued he was more entitled to the title than Diophantus because he was the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake.
Where does the word algorithm come from in relation to Al-Khwarizmi?
The word algorithm comes from the Latinized forms of Al-Khwarizmi's name, Algoritmi and Algorismi. His Latinized name Algorismus became the name of the method used for computations in Europe. Both algorithm and algorism derive from his name, while the word algebra comes from the title of his book Al-Jabr.
What did Al-Khwarizmi write in his book Al-Jabr?
Al-Jabr, fully titled The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, was written approximately 820 CE and presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. It showed how to solve quadratic equations by completing the square with geometric justifications, and used the operations al-jabr (restoration) and al-muqabala (balancing). It was replete with examples drawn from trade, surveying, and legal inheritance.
Where was Al-Khwarizmi from and what was his background?
Ibn al-Nadim gives Al-Khwarizmi's birthplace as Khwarazm, a region that was part of Greater Iran and is now part of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. He was of Persian stock, probably Khwarezmian, and his name means 'from Khwarazm'. Despite his non-Arabic origin, he wrote his scientific works entirely in Arabic.
What did Al-Khwarizmi do at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad?
Around 820 CE, Al-Khwarizmi was appointed astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, an institution established by the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun. He studied sciences and mathematics and translated Greek and Sanskrit scientific manuscripts. He accomplished most of his work between 813 and 833.
What were Al-Khwarizmi's contributions to astronomy and geography?
Al-Khwarizmi produced the Zij as-Sindhind, astronomical tables with roughly 37 chapters and 116 tables covering the movements of the Sun, Moon, and five known planets, along with sine and cosine tables. In geography, his Kitab Surat al-Ard, finished in 833, listed 2402 coordinates and reworked Ptolemy's Geography, correcting Ptolemy's overestimate of the Mediterranean's length to nearly 50 degrees of longitude. He also oversaw 70 geographers in making a world map for the caliph al-Ma'mun.