Mathematics Atlas

How Proof Is Made
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Mathematician

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

al-KWAR-iz-mee
Also Known As Al-Khwarizmi · Latinized as Algoritmi, the direct etymological source of the word algorithm
Medieval

Persian mathematician and astronomer working at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphate. His treatise al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing) gave algebra its name (from al-jabr) and its earliest systematic treatment as an independent subject, presenting general methods for solving linear and quadratic equations rather than isolated problems. A later Latin rendering of his name, Algoritmi, is the root of the modern word algorithm.

Facts
Birthplace
Khwarazm, Abbasid Caliphate (probable) 1
Ibn al-Nadim gives his birthplace as Khwarazm, the more widely repeated claim; al-Tabari's account instead places his origin near Baghdad. Genuinely disputed among historical sources, recorded honestly rather than picking one silently.
Nationality / Culture
Persian, working at the Abbasid House of Wisdom, Baghdad 2
Defining Contribution
Systematized algebra as its own subject with general solution methods for linear and quadratic equations; his name, Latinized, gives the modern word algorithm, and al-jabr gives algebra its name. 2
Notable Work
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing (c. 820 CE) 2
Disputed
Birth Year
780 CE 2
No firm birth record survives; c. 780 CE is the commonly cited scholarly estimate.
Death Year
850 CE 2
No firm death record survives; c. 850 CE is the commonly cited scholarly estimate.
Biography
Gender
Male 1
Connections

Associated With

Algebra, Branches of Mathematics
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Algorithm, Concepts
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Zero, Concepts

Al-Khwarizmi's work was a major channel carrying the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, zero included, into the Islamic world and, through Latin translation, into medieval Europe.

Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

In Branch

Algebra, Branches of Mathematics
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Sources
1. Al-Khwarizmi (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Al-Khwarizmi's name was latinized as Algoritmi, making his name the origin of the word "algorithm."
  • Life section
    He was of Persian descent; his name means 'from Khwarazm', a region that was part of Greater Iran, and is now part of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
  • Lead section, gender reference
    Around 820, he worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the contemporary capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate.
View the Source
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statistics
  • Associated With: Algorithm, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Khwarizmi/
    The Arabic text is lost but a Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum in English Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning gave rise to the word algorithm deriving from his name in the title.
  • Associated With: Algebra, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Khwarizmi/
    the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.