Al-Khwarizmi writes al-jabr

Al-Khwarizmi systematized solving equations in The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, and popularized Hindu-Arabic numerals.

Why it matters

'Algebra' comes from his title, 'algorithm' from his name. He turned mathematics from geometry of shapes into calculation with procedures — the ancestor of every program that has ever run.

People

Al-Khwarizmi

Threads

This event sits on Computation.

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Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — al-Khwārizmī