Everyone
is familiar with the terms Algebra and Algorizm, but very few know
that these were founded by Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa
Al-Khwarizmi. Abu
Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi
also known as Algorizm, was one of the greatest mathematicians that
ever lived.
Some
of the contributions of Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa
Al-Khwarizmi to the world of knowledge:
- Introduced Arabic numerals to the west that was stuck with Roman numerals.
- Adopted the use of zero.
- Invented the decimal system.
- His work on the system of numerals is recognized after his last name, "Algorithm," or "Algorizm." The word is derived from his last name al-Khwarizmi.
- Founder of Algebra.
- Developed detailed trigonometric tables containing sine & tangent functions.
- Founded differential calculus.
- Latin translation of his book was used as the principal mathematical textbook of European universities till the sixteenth century.
- Produced the first map of the world in the shape of a globe in 830 CE
Quotation:
"That fondness for science, ... that affability and condescension which God shows to the learned, that promptitude with which he protects and supports them in the elucidation of obscurities and in the removal of difficulties, has encouraged me to compose a short work on calculating by al-jabr and al-muqabala , confining it to what is easiest and most useful in arithmetic."
[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.]
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment