aL-KHAWRZIMI
Abû
Abdullah, Muhammad Ibn Mûsâ Al-Khawarizmî was born
in Khawarizm (Kheva, in the South of the Aral Sea, in current
Uzbekistan). His native place gave him its name and he later
gave his name to Algorithm. His parents immigrated to the South
of Baghdad when he was a child.His exact birth and death dates
are not well known; however according to some of his papers, he
could be born in the period 813-833 and died near 850 AC. He is
particularly known for introducing the concept of Algorithm. He
was mainly interested in Mathematics but he also devoted a part
of his life to Astronomy, Geography, and even Poetry. Al-Khawarizmî
is certainly one of the most imminent mathematicians the world
has ever known in the sense that he founded several fields of
Mathematics. Indeed, not only he elaborated the systematic
aspect of the discipline (with the introduction of the notion of
the "unknown", the thing "chay" in Arabic), which probably
became xay and then x, the symbol of the unknown) but he also
gave the general solutions of linear equations (1st degree) and
quadratic (2nd degree). In fact, the name "algebra" comes from
his famous treatise "Al-Jabr wal-Muqâbalah" (al-jabr means
"restoring", referring to the process of moving a subtracted
quantity to the other side of an equation; al-muqabala is
"comparing" and refers to subtracting equal quantities from both
sides of an equation). In this book from which the word
‘algebra’ is derived, Al-Khawarizmî gives a complete description
of solutions to all possible types of quadratic equations. It
can be considered as the first book to be written on Algebra.
Moreover, Al-Khawarizmî made a synthesis of the Greek and Indian
knowledge in Arithmetic; he also wrote on Hindu-Arabic numerals
and was among the first Mathematicians to use zero as a place
holder in positional base notation. Further to his usage of the
Indian digital system, he developed several processes of
Arithmetic, including operations of fractions. Through his
works, the decimal system was introduced first in the Arab world
and later in Europe. He also developed trigonometric tables
(with the sine function). In Geometry, he refined the
geometrical representation of the conical sections. His
development of the calculation of errors has led him to the
concept of differentiation (later taken back and developed by I.
Newton in the 17th century). His works on Arithmetic were good
references to the university researchers until the 16th century.
In Astronomy, we owe him a collection of astronomical tables. In
Geography, he considered Ptolemy’s works and corrected them in
detail. Seventy geographers worked under his responsibility for
the conception of the first world map, near 830. It is also
reported that, at the request of the Caliph My mûn Ar-Rashid, he
proceeded to get measures of the volume and the circumference of
the earth. All of his works, in Mathematics, Geography or in
Astronomy were translated into several foreign languages.
Although not really sufficiently known, the reputation of this
scholar crossed and survived over centuries.
Al-KHAWARIZMIYA
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