Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

A scholar who worked in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, geography, and algorithms. Al-Khwarizmi was born in 780 to an Iranian family in the city of Khwarezm—in Greater Khorasan—which is known today as Khiva. Latin translations of his works on Hindu numerals introduced the decimal positional numeral system to the Western world in the 12th century. Al-Khwarizmi is regarded as the father or founder of algebra because he was the first to teach algebra as an independent discipline and to introduce the methods of “reduction” and “balancing” (simplifying an equation by moving like terms from opposite sides to the same side). With the spread of his works to Europe through Latin translations in the 12th century, he had a profound influence on the development of mathematics in Europe. His works in the field of algebra were used as fundamental mathematics textbooks in European universities until the 16th century. He revised and edited Ptolemy’s work *Geography* and conducted research in the fields of astronomy and astrology. Certain terms reflect the significance of al-Khwarizmi’s contributions to mathematics. The word “algebra” is derived from al-jabr, one of the two operations he used to solve quadratic equations. The word “algorithm,” meanwhile, comes from the Latin form of his name, Algoritmi. Furthermore, his name forms the root of the Spanish word “guarismo” and the Portuguese word “algarismo,” both of which mean “digit.” Al-Khwarizmi died in Baghdad in 850.