Al-Khwarizmi

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī
A stamp issued 6 September 1983 in the Soviet Union, to celebrate roughly 1200 years since al-Khwārizmī's birth
Bornc. 780
Diedc. 850

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (Persian: محمد بن موسى خوارزمی, Arabic: محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer. He was believed to have been born around 800 AD and died in 850 AD during the Abbasid Empire.

Al-Khwarizmi was known for the book he wrote about algebra, Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. He also wrote a book which taught the Western world about Hindu numerals and how to use them. This book was later titled the Hindu Art of Reckoning. With his books, al-Khwarizmi authored astronomical tables- tables designed to calculate the position of planets or eclipses.

His work changed the understanding and knowledge of mathematics in the Middle Ages and mathematicians in Europe read his book. They began to use these Hindu–Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ...) instead of the Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, ...). The Arabic numeral system is easier to do mathematics with, as Roman numbers have no place values. This means that they can only deal with whole numbers and do simple equations. Roman numerals also have no number zero.

He wrote a book on algebra named Al-Jabr Wal' Muqibla. In this book, he introduced his own number system and also introduced Arabic numerals. His books were translated into Greek and Latin. They named his books "So said Algorizmi". The word "algorithm" is derived from the word Algorizmi. The word algebra comes from the word al-jabr that is at the beginning of the title of the book. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi worked at the House of Wisdom, where people worked on translating scientific works.

Kharazmi University

References

  1. ↑ Corbin, Henry (1998). The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy. North Atlantic Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-55643-269-9.
  2. ↑ Clifford A. Pickover (2009). The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-4027-5796-9.
  3. ↑ Saliba, George (September 1998). "Science and medicine". Iranian Studies. 31 (3–4): 681–690. doi:10.1080/00210869808701940. Take, for example, someone like Muhammad b. Musa al-Khwarizmi (fl. 850) may present a problem for the EIr, for although he was obviously of Persian descent, he lived and worked in Baghdad and was not known to have produced a single scientific work in Persian.
  4. ↑ A History of Science in World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge. Routledge. Page 228. "Mohammed ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780–850) was a Persian astronomer and mathematician from the district of Khwarism (Uzbekistan area of Central Asia)."
  5. ↑ Ben-Menahem, Ari (2009). Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (1st ed.). Berlin: Springer. pp. 942–943. ISBN 978-3-540-68831-0. Persian mathematician Al-Khowarizmi
  6. ↑ Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E.; Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Beck, Roger B.; Davila, Jerry; Crowston, Clare Haru; McKay, John P. (2017). A History of World Societies (11th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 419. Near the beginning of this period the Persian scholar al-Khwarizmi (d. ca. 850) harmonized Greek and Indian findings to produce astronomical tables that formed the basis for later Eastern and Western research.
  7. 1 2 3 Sizgorich, Tom. "al-Khwarizmi." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
  8. 1 2 "al-Khwarizmi." Notable Mathematicians. Gale, 2008. Biography In Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
  9. ↑ Katz, Victor J. "Al-Khwarizmi." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web. 27 Feb.