Al-Khwarizmi & Islamic Algebra
The House of Wisdom, the birth of algebra, and the Islamic Golden Age
7.1 The House of Wisdom
In the early 9th century, Caliph al-Ma'mun established the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, a center for translating Greek, Indian, and Persian scientific texts into Arabic. This extraordinary institution brought together scholars from across the Islamic world and catalyzed one of the most productive periods in mathematical history.
Among its most distinguished members was Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780β850), whose name gave us the word βalgorithmβ and whose book title gave us the word βalgebra.β
7.2 Al-Jabr wa'l-Muqabala
Al-Khwarizmi's masterwork, Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala, published around 820 CE, is the founding text of algebra. The word al-jabr refers to the operation of moving a subtracted quantity to the other side of an equation.
Al-Khwarizmi systematically classified and solved all types of linear and quadratic equations using both algebraic and geometric methods. He also wrote influential works on Hindu-Arabic numerals, helping transmit the Indian decimal system to the Islamic world and eventually to Europe.
7.3 Omar Khayyam and Beyond
Omar Khayyam (1048β1131) classified and solved all cubic equations using geometric methods β intersecting conic sections to find roots. Other key figures include Thabit ibn Qurra (translations and number theory), al-Karaji (algebraic calculus and binomial coefficients), and al-Kashi (who computed Ο to 16 decimal places in the 15th century).