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Revision as of 13:42, 10 March 2006 view sourceManiF (talk \| contribs)3,130 edits Zora's version was neither discussed nor approved on talk. The current version was put to a vote and the majority reached consensus on it. If you like another version, then please discuss it first!← Previous edit		Revision as of 13:50, 10 March 2006 view source Jidan (talk \| contribs)2,443 edits @mani: Neither is yours!! Zora's version is the most unbaised. Yours is tooo biased. If i didnt change it, someone else will do. If not today, then tomorow. Do u get it? it has to be bias!!Next edit →
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	Abū ‘Abd Allāh ~~Muhammad~~ ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ~~(c.780~~ - ~~850)~~ (]: ~~أبو~~ ~~عبد~~ ~~الله~~ محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, ]: موسى ~~خوارزمى~~) was a ] mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He was born around ], in either ] or ], and died around ].		'''Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī'''<ref>His name means “Father of Abdullah, Mohammed, son of Moses, native of ]”</ref><ref>]: موسى خوارزمى ''Musa Khwarizmi''</ref><ref>His name is also often given as '''Abū Ğa‘far Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī''' (Arabic: '''أبو جعفر محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي''')</ref><ref>Many alternative translations of his name exist: ''Abu'' </ref> (]: '''أبو عبد الله محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي''') was a ] ], ], and ]. He was born around ], in either ] or ], and died around ].

	He was the ] of the book '']'',<ref>Arabic: الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة — “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”</ref> on the systematic solution of ] and ]s. Consequently he is considered to be the father of ],<ref>''Khwarizmi's algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences. In a sense, Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than ] because Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, ] is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers.'' —Gandz pp. 263–277.</ref>, a title he has to share with ]. The word algebra is derived from ''al-ğabr'',<ref>Arabic: الجبر — “restoring” or “completion”</ref> one of the two operations used to solve ], as described in his book. ''Algoritmi de numero Indorum'', the ] translation of his other major work, on the ], introduced the ] and the ] to the ] in the ]. The words ] and ] stem from ''Algoritmi'', the ] of his name.<ref>''In the foremost rank of mathematicians of all time stands Khwarizmi. He composed the oldest works on arithmetic and algebra. They were the principal source of mathematical knowledge for centuries to come in the East and the West. The work on arithmetic first introduced the Hindu numbers to Europe, as the very name algorism signifies; and the work on algebra ... gave the name to this important branch of mathematics in the European world...'' —A A al'Daffa.</ref>		He was the ] of the book '']'',<ref>Arabic: الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة — “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”</ref> on the systematic solution of ] and ]s. Consequently he is considered to be the father of ],<ref>''Khwarizmi's algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences. In a sense, Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than ] because Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, ] is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers.'' —Gandz pp. 263–277.</ref>, a title he has to share with ]. The word algebra is derived from ''al-ğabr'',<ref>Arabic: الجبر — “restoring” or “completion”</ref> one of the two operations used to solve ], as described in his book. ''Algoritmi de numero Indorum'', the ] translation of his other major work, on the ], introduced the ] and the ] to the ] in the ]. The words ] and ] stem from ''Algoritmi'', the ] of his name.<ref>''In the foremost rank of mathematicians of all time stands Khwarizmi. He composed the oldest works on arithmetic and algebra. They were the principal source of mathematical knowledge for centuries to come in the East and the West. The work on arithmetic first introduced the Hindu numbers to Europe, as the very name algorism signifies; and the work on algebra ... gave the name to this important branch of mathematics in the European world...'' —A A al'Daffa.</ref>
	== Biography ==		== Biography ==
	Few details about his life are known: it is not even certain where al-Khwarizmi was born. His name indicates he might have came from ] in the ] area of ]. It is now known as ] and located in ]. The ] ] gave him the ] ''al-Qutrubbulli'', indicating that he might instead have came from ], a small town near ]. Al-Tabari also gave him the epithet ''al-Majusi'', suggesting that one of his ancestors had been a Magus or ], a ] priest. The preface to his ''Algebra'' suggests that he was an orthodox ].		Few details about his life are known: it is not even certain where al-Khwarizmi was born. His name indicates he might have came from ] in the ] area of central Asia; this area had been under Persian rule for centuries, then independent, then conquered by Arabs. It is now known as ] and located in ]. The ] ] gave him the ] ''al-Qutrubbulli'', indicating that he might instead have came from ], a small town near ]. Al-Tabari also gave him the epithet ''al-Majusi'', suggesting that one of his ancestors had been a Magus or ], a ] priest. The preface to his ''Algebra'' suggests that he was an orthodox ].

			He has been described as a Persian, an Arab, and even a Turk.

			* In favor of the ] designation would be the ] ancestor and the possible origin in ], which was part of Persia, yet at his time under the Islamic Caliphate. His name certainly also may be an indication that he may have been ] born. Other evidence may be the fact that many suggest he wrote in ] because it was the language of the conquerors of ], and he was not allowed, or at best discouraged to write in his native language Persian. Apparently many of his contemporaries, and other scientists such as Al ], ], and Al ] were from Khwarizm, ] as well.
⚫	Al-Khwarizmi accomplished most of his work in the period between ] and ]. After the ], Baghdad became the centre of scientific studies and trade, and many merchants and scientists, from as far as China and India traveled to this city--as such apparently so did Al-Khwarizmi. He worked in Baghdad as a scholar at the ] established by ] ], where he studied and translated Greek scientific manuscripts.

			* In favor of the ] designation would be the fact that he is not known to have written in any language other than ] and that he may have been a native of ], a small town near ]. Even if it is believed that he came from Khwarizm in Khorasan, he may have been descended from the Arabs who settled there after the ]. Khorasan's Arab community was crucial in bringing the ] to power, and many Khorasani's had ties both to Khorasan and Baghdad, the Abbasid capital .

			* Those arguing for a Turkish designation say that he came from the furthest reaches of the Abbasid caliphate, an area that bordered on the lands of Turkic tribes and that is now predominantly Turkish.

			In the absence of further information about al-Khwarizmi, it is difficult to say which of these arguments should prevail. It is a testament to the importance of the man that so many ethnicities should compete for the honor of claiming him.

		⚫	Al-Khwarizmi accomplished most of his work in the period between ] and ]. After the Arab conquest of Persia, Baghdad became the centre of scientific studies and trade, and many merchants and scientists, from as far as China and India traveled to this city--as such apparently so did Al-Khwarizmi. He worked in Baghdad as a scholar at the ] established by ] ], where he studied and translated Greek scientific manuscripts.

	==Contributions==		==Contributions==
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	* John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. at the MacTutor archive.		* John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. at the MacTutor archive.
	* Solomon Gandz. The sources of al-Khwarizmi's algebra, Osiris, i (1936).		* Solomon Gandz. The sources of al-Khwarizmi's algebra, Osiris, i (1936).
			*
			* William Muir (revised edition by T. H. WEIR, M.A., D.D.). .

	==External links==		==External links==

Revision as of 13:50, 10 March 2006

Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي) was a Muslim mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He was born around 780, in either Khwarizm or Baghdad, and died around 850.

He was the author of the book al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala, on the systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. Consequently he is considered to be the father of algebra,, a title he has to share with Diophantus. The word algebra is derived from al-ğabr, one of the two operations used to solve quadratic equations, as described in his book. Algoritmi de numero Indorum, the Latin translation of his other major work, on the Indian numerals, introduced the positional number system and the number zero to the Western world in the 12th century. The words algorism and algorithm stem from Algoritmi, the Latinization of his name.

Biography

Few details about his life are known: it is not even certain where al-Khwarizmi was born. His name indicates he might have came from Khwarizm in the Khorasan area of central Asia; this area had been under Persian rule for centuries, then independent, then conquered by Arabs. It is now known as Khiva and located in Uzbekistan. The historian al-Tabari gave him the epithet al-Qutrubbulli, indicating that he might instead have came from Qutrubbull, a small town near Baghdad. Al-Tabari also gave him the epithet al-Majusi, suggesting that one of his ancestors had been a Magus or Magi, a Zoroastrian priest. The preface to his Algebra suggests that he was an orthodox Muslim.

He has been described as a Persian, an Arab, and even a Turk.

In favor of the Persian designation would be the Zoroastrian ancestor and the possible origin in Khwarizm, which was part of Persia, yet at his time under the Islamic Caliphate. His name certainly also may be an indication that he may have been Persian born. Other evidence may be the fact that many suggest he wrote in Arabic because it was the language of the conquerors of Persia, and he was not allowed, or at best discouraged to write in his native language Persian. Apparently many of his contemporaries, and other scientists such as Al Biruni, Avicenna, and Al Razi were from Khwarizm, Persian as well.

In favor of the Arab designation would be the fact that he is not known to have written in any language other than Arabic and that he may have been a native of Qutrubbull, a small town near Baghdad. Even if it is believed that he came from Khwarizm in Khorasan, he may have been descended from the Arabs who settled there after the Arab conquest of Persia. Khorasan's Arab community was crucial in bringing the Abbasid caliphs to power, and many Khorasani's had ties both to Khorasan and Baghdad, the Abbasid capital .

Those arguing for a Turkish designation say that he came from the furthest reaches of the Abbasid caliphate, an area that bordered on the lands of Turkic tribes and that is now predominantly Turkish.

In the absence of further information about al-Khwarizmi, it is difficult to say which of these arguments should prevail. It is a testament to the importance of the man that so many ethnicities should compete for the honor of claiming him.

Al-Khwarizmi accomplished most of his work in the period between 813 and 833. After the Arab conquest of Persia, Baghdad became the centre of scientific studies and trade, and many merchants and scientists, from as far as China and India traveled to this city--as such apparently so did Al-Khwarizmi. He worked in Baghdad as a scholar at the House of Wisdom established by Caliph al-Ma'mūn, where he studied and translated Greek scientific manuscripts.

Contributions

He made major contributions to the fields of algebra, trigonometry, astronomy/astrology, geography and cartography. His systematic and logical approach to solving linear and quadratic equations gave shape to the discipline of algebra, a word that is derived from the name of his 830 book on the subject, al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala (الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة) or: "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing". The book was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century.

His book On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals written about 825, was principally responsible for the diffusion of the Indian system of numeration in the Middle-East and then Europe. This book also translated into Latin in the twelfth century, as Algoritmi de numero Indorum. From the name of the author, rendered in Latin as algoritmi, originated the term algorithm.

Some of his contributions were based on earlier Persian Astronomy Indian numbers and Greek sources.

Al-Khwarizmi systematized and corrected Ptolemy's data in geography as regards to Africa and the Middle east. Another major book was his Kitab surat al-ard ("The Image of the Earth"; translated as Geography), which presented the coordinates of localities in the known world based, ultimately, on those in the Geography of Ptolemy but with improved values for the length of the Mediterranean Sea and the location of cities in Asia and Africa.

He also assisted in the construction of a world map for the caliph al-Ma'mun and participated in a project to determine the circumference of the Earth, supervising the work of 70 geographers to create the map of the then "known world".

When his work was copied and transferred to Europe through Latin translations, it had a profound impact on the advancement of basic mathematics in Europe. He also wrote on mechanical devices like the clock, astrolabe, and sundial. His other contributions include tables of trigonometric functions, refinements in the geometric representation of conic sections, and aspects of the calculus of two errors.

al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala

File:Al1.png

The frontispiece from Algebra

Main article: al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala

al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala (Arabic: الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”) is a mathematical book written approximately 820 AD by the Muslim mathematician Al-Khawarizmi.

The book extended the work of Indian mathematician Brahmagupta and Greek mathematician Diophantus on algebraic equations. The book is considered to have defined algebra. The word algebra is derived from the name of one of the basic operations with equations (al-jabr) described in this book. The book was translated in Latin as Liber algebrae et almucabala by Robert of Chester (c. 1145), hence "algebra".

The al-jabr operation is subtracting a quantity from one side of the equation and adding it to another. al-muqābala means subtraction of the same quantity from both sides.

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Algoritmi de numero Indorum

Main article: Algoritmi de numero Indorum

Algoritmi de numero Indorum ("al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning") on Arithmetic, which survived in a Latin translation but was lost in the original Arabic.

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Sindhind zīğ

Not to be confused with al-Battani's Kitāb al-zīğ.

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ

Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ (Arabic: كتاب صورة الأرض "The image of the earth" translated as Geography)

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Kitāb istikhrāğ ta’rīkh al-yahūd

Kitāb istikhrāğ ta’rīkh al-yahūd (Arabic: كتاب استخراج تأريخ اليهود "Book on the Jewish calender")

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Other works

Other works by al-Khwarizmi include Kitab al-Tarikh (literally, the book of history) and Kitab al-Rukhmat (about sun-dials). The last two have been lost.

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit request adding to it .

Notes

His name means “Father of Abdullah, Mohammed, son of Moses, native of Khwārizm”
Persian: موسى خوارزمى Musa Khwarizmi
His name is also often given as Abū Ğa‘far Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (Arabic: أبو جعفر محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي)
Many alternative translations of his name exist: Abu
Arabic: الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة — “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”
Khwarizmi's algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences. In a sense, Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than Diophantus because Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers. —Gandz pp. 263–277.
Arabic: الجبر — “restoring” or “completion”
In the foremost rank of mathematicians of all time stands Khwarizmi. He composed the oldest works on arithmetic and algebra. They were the principal source of mathematical knowledge for centuries to come in the East and the West. The work on arithmetic first introduced the Hindu numbers to Europe, as the very name algorism signifies; and the work on algebra ... gave the name to this important branch of mathematics in the European world... —A A al'Daffa.
Britannica, al-Khwarizmi
O'Connor, Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi

References

Ali Abdullah al-Daffa. The Muslim contribution to mathematics (London, 1978).
Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming: Fundamental Algorithms 3rd edition. Addison-Wesley. 1997. ISBN 0-201-89683-4.
Jeffrey A. Oaks. Was al-Khwarizmi an applied algebraist?. The University of Indianapolis.
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abraham bar Hiyya Ha-Nasi", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. Arabic mathematics: forgotten brilliance? at the MacTutor archive.
Solomon Gandz. The sources of al-Khwarizmi's algebra, Osiris, i (1936).
Encyclopaedia Iranica
William Muir (revised edition by T. H. WEIR, M.A., D.D.). The Caliphate Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.

External links

al-Khwarizmi at Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006.
al-Khowarizmi at Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th edition.
al-Khwarizmi in Meriam-Webster.
al-Khwarizmi at Encarta

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