22nd mayo 2020 | 2 Min read time

Al-Khwarizmi the Father of Algebra and the Algorithm

To mark Eid Al Fitr, we have chosen to pay tribute to one of the most celebrated Muslim scientists, Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, better known as simply Al-Khwarizmi.

This blog post was written by Adnane Rifai from TecQuipment.

Al-Khwarizmi is mostly recognised for his prominent work in mathematics particularly his achievements in Linear and Quadratic equations that lead to the development of “Algebra”, a word title of Al-Khwarizmi’s most well known book. Al-Khwarizmi was the first mathematician to introduce the “unknown” element “X” to solve equations. Algebra later gave birth to every equation solving method which modern mathematics and physics is based upon.

Another of his celebrated works includes the introduction of the Algorithm, a word derived from Al-Khwarizmi’s own name. Al-Khwarizmi revolutionized arithmetic and his calculation methods using the Algorithm replaced the previous abacus-based methods used in Europe.

This 9th century scientist, born in today’s Uzbekistan contributed to other fields of science and was the first to assert that both the Indian and the Atlantic oceans are open seas. A related paper on spherical trigonometry is also attributed to Al-Khwarizmi.

A measure of Al-Khwarizmi contribution to science can be illustrated as: No Algebra, No E=mc2


EID Mubarak Said




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