At a glance
Era 3- Dates
- c. 780-c. 850 CE
- Who
- Mathematician and astronomer of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
- Era
- The Abbasids & the Golden Age
ProfileMuhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
Al-Khwarizmi came from Khwarazm, south of the Aral Sea, and worked in Baghdad under the caliph al-Ma'mun, among the scholars of the House of Wisdom.
Around 820 he wrote a book on solving equations, al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala. It taught practical methods for problems of inheritance, trade and land measurement. The word al-jabr in its title gave English the word algebra. Another of his books explained the Indian system of numerals with a zero, and when it was translated into Latin, his name, written Algoritmi, gave us the word algorithm. Through it, the numerals we now call Arabic numerals spread to Europe.
He also drew up astronomical tables and wrote a book of geography that revised the coordinates of places across the known world.
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SourcesSources for this profile
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