Science history: Al-Khwarizmi, master of maths | Mathematics - Cosmos

Influential Persian composed the oldest works on arithmetic and algebra by Jeff Glorfeld, former senior editor of The Age newspaper in Australia, and is now a freelance journalist based in California, US.

Al-Khwarizmi featured on a stamp released by the then USSR in 1983 to mark what was considered the 1200th anniversary of his birth.
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Renowned author Terry Pratchett has described Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth as “one of the best and most influential fantasy works of the 20th century”.

The four-book series was written between 1950 and 1984. Each is a collection of stories about Earth in the far-off future, when the Sun is dying, our planet dimly lit by its fading red glow, and magic returns to the land, practised by a handful of wizards.

Early in the tale, one wizard is apprenticed to another, where he learns about “a strange abstract lore termed Mathematics”...

J J O'Connor and E.F Robertson, writing for the School of Mathematics and Statistics at Scotland’s University of St Andrews, agree with Beilby’s assessment.

“In the foremost rank of mathematicians of all time stands Al-Khwarizmi,” they say, referencing two separate works. “He composed the oldest works on arithmetic and algebra. They were the principal source of mathematical knowledge for centuries to come in the East and the West. The work on arithmetic first introduced the Hindu numbers to Europe… and the work on algebra... gave the name to this important branch of mathematics in the European world.”
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Source: Cosmos