Muhammad ibn musa al-khwarizmi biography of michael

Furthermore, he was the first to use decimals to express the fractions. The exact date of his birth is not clear, but it is normally considered to be CE. There is very little information about his early life, but it is clear that he was one of the brilliant students in Baghdad, Iraq. Baghdad was the city of knowledge at the time of the Golden Era of Muslims.

Al-Khwarizmi was one of the many researchers working in the House of Wisdom as a mathematician, geologist, and astronomer. In the House of Wisdom, al-Khwarizmi studied algebra, geometry and astronomy, as well as the translation of Sanskrit and Greek scientific manuscripts. His colleagues included the Islamic scientist brothers, the Banu Musa.

Al-Khwarizmi wrote his two most foundational books, his treatise on algebra and his treatise on astronomy, while studying at the House of Wisdom. Both are dedicated to the Caliph. The treatise uses examples and real-life applications of mathematical functions, which distinguishes it from earlier works on the subject. The work, for example, contains sections on the use of algebra to settle inheritance, trade and surveying problems according to proportions prescribed by Islamic law.

Elements within the treatise can be traced from mathematics from early 2nd century BC Babylonia right through to Hellenistic , Hebrew and Hindu works. It is regarded to be the first book written on algebra. A Latin translation is kept is Cambridge. The translation was most likely done in the twelfth century by Adelard of Bath , who had also translated the astronomical tables in Margaret J.

In a book called Addition and Subtraction by the Method of Calculation of the Hindus, he introduced the idea of zero to the Western world. Several centuries earlier … [an] unknown Hindu scholar or merchant had wanted to record a number from his counting board. He used a dot to indicate a column with no beads, and called the dot sunya, which means empty.

This gave us our word cipher. It is a revised and completed version of Ptolemy 's Geography , consisting of a list of coordinates of cities and other geographical features following a general introduction. The book opens with the list of latitudes and longitudes, in order of "weather zones," that is to say in blocks of latitudes and, in each weather zone, by order of longitude.

As Paul Gallez points out, this excellent system allows us to deduce many latitudes and longitudes where the only document in our possession is in such a bad condition as to make it practically illegible. Neither the Arabic copy nor the Latin translation include the map of the world itself, however Hubert Daunicht was able to reconstruct the missing map from the list of coordinates.

Daunicht read the latitudes and longitudes of the coastal points in the manuscript, or deduces them from the context where they were not legible. He transferred the points onto graph paper and connected them with straight lines, obtaining an approximation of the coastline as it was on the original map. He then does the same for the rivers and towns.

This is one of many Arabic zijes based on the Indian astronomical methods known as the sindhind. On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals, written about , was principally responsible for spreading the Hindu—Arabic numeral system throughout the Middle East and Europe. When the work was translated into Latin in the 12th century as Algoritmi de numero Indorum Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu art of reckoning , the term "algorithm" was introduced to the Western world.

Some of his work was based on Persian and Babylonian astronomy, Indian numbers , and Greek mathematics. Another major book was Kitab surat al-ard "The Image of the Earth"; translated as Geography , presenting the coordinates of places based on those in the Geography of Ptolemy , but with improved values for the Mediterranean Sea , Asia, and Africa.

He wrote on mechanical devices like the astrolabe [ 46 ] and sundial. It was written with the encouragement of Caliph al-Ma'mun as a popular work on calculation and is replete with examples and applications to a range of problems in trade, surveying and legal inheritance. The book was translated in Latin as Liber algebrae et almucabala by Robert of Chester Segovia , hence "algebra", and by Gerard of Cremona.

A unique Arabic copy is kept at Oxford and was translated in by F. A Latin translation is kept in Cambridge. It provided an exhaustive account of solving polynomial equations up to the second degree, [ 51 ] and discussed the fundamental method of "reduction" and "balancing", referring to the transposition of terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation.

Al-jabr is the process of removing negative units, roots and squares from the equation by adding the same quantity to each side. The above discussion uses modern mathematical notation for the types of problems that the book discusses. For example, for one problem he writes, from an translation. If some one says: "You divide ten into two parts: multiply the one by itself; it will be equal to the other taken eighty-one times.

Separate the twenty things from a hundred and a square, and add them to eighty-one. It will then be a hundred plus a square, which is equal to a hundred and one roots. Halve the roots; the moiety is fifty and a half. Multiply this by itself, it is two thousand five hundred and fifty and a quarter. Subtract from this one hundred; the remainder is two thousand four hundred and fifty and a quarter.

Extract the root from this; it is forty-nine and a half. Subtract this from the moiety of the roots, which is fifty and a half. There remains one, and this is one of the two parts. Solomon Gandz has described Al-Khwarizmi as the father of Algebra:. Al-Khwarizmi's algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences. In a sense, al-Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than Diophantus because al-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.

The first true algebra text which is still extant is the work on al-jabr and al-muqabala by Mohammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, written in Baghdad around John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Perhaps one of the most significant advances made by Arabic mathematics began at this time with the work of al-Khwarizmi, namely the beginnings of algebra.

It is important to understand just how significant this new idea was. It was a revolutionary move away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was essentially geometry. Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers , irrational numbers , geometrical magnitudes, etc. It gave mathematics a whole new development path so much broader in concept to that which had existed before, and provided a vehicle for future development of the subject.

Another important aspect of the introduction of algebraic ideas was that it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not happened before. Roshdi Rashed and Angela Armstrong write:. Al-Khwarizmi's text can be seen to be distinct not only from the Babylonian tablets , but also from Diophantus ' Arithmetica. It no longer concerns a series of problems to be solved , but an exposition which starts with primitive terms in which the combinations must give all possible prototypes for equations, which henceforward explicitly constitute the true object of study.

On the other hand, the idea of an equation for its own sake appears from the beginning and, one could say, in a generic manner, insofar as it does not simply emerge in the course of solving a problem, but is specifically called on to define an infinite class of problems. According to Swiss-American historian of mathematics, Florian Cajori , Al-Khwarizmi's algebra was different from the work of Indian mathematicians , for Indians had no rules like the restoration and reduction.

Boyer wrote:. It is true that in two respects the work of al-Khowarizmi represented a retrogression from that of Diophantus. First, it is on a far more elementary level than that found in the Diophantine problems and, second, the algebra of al-Khowarizmi is thoroughly rhetorical, with none of the syncopation found in the Greek Arithmetica or in Brahmagupta's work.

Even numbers were written out in words rather than symbols! It is quite unlikely that al-Khwarizmi knew of the work of Diophantus, but he must have been familiar with at least the astronomical and computational portions of Brahmagupta; yet neither al-Khwarizmi nor other Arabic scholars made use of syncopation or of negative numbers. Nevertheless, the Al-jabr comes closer to the elementary algebra of today than the works of either Diophantus or Brahmagupta, because the book is not concerned with difficult problems in indeterminant analysis but with a straight forward and elementary exposition of the solution of equations, especially that of second degree.

The Arabs in general loved a good clear argument from premise to conclusion, as well as systematic organization — respects in which neither Diophantus nor the Hindus excelled. Called takht in Arabic Latin: tabula , a board covered with a thin layer of dust or sand was employed for calculations, on which figures could be written with a stylus and easily erased and replaced when necessary.

Al-Khwarizmi's algorithms were used for almost three centuries, until replaced by Al-Uqlidisi 's algorithms that could be carried out with pen and paper. As part of 12th century wave of Arabic science flowing into Europe via translations, these texts proved to be revolutionary in Europe. It gradually replaced the previous abacus-based methods used in Europe.

Four Latin texts providing adaptions of Al-Khwarizmi's methods have survived, even though none of them is believed to be a literal translation: [ 60 ]. Dixit Algorizmi 'Thus spake Al-Khwarizmi' is the starting phrase of a manuscript in the University of Cambridge library, which is generally referred to by its title Algoritmi de Numero Indorum. It is attributed to the Adelard of Bath , who had translated the astronomical tables in It is perhaps the closest to Al-Khwarizmi's own writings.

Al-Khwarizmi's work on arithmetic was responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals , based on the Hindu—Arabic numeral system developed in Indian mathematics , to the Western world. This is the first of many Arabic Zijes based on the Indian astronomical methods known as the sindhind.

Muhammad ibn musa al-khwarizmi biography of michael

In fact, the mean motions in the tables of al-Khwarizmi are derived from those in the "corrected Brahmasiddhanta" Brahmasphutasiddhanta of Brahmagupta. The work contains tables for the movements of the sun , the moon and the five planets known at the time. This work marked the turning point in Islamic astronomy. Hitherto, Muslim astronomers had adopted a primarily research approach to the field, translating works of others and learning already discovered knowledge.

The original Arabic version written c.