Al-Khwarizmi and algebra

A mathematician from Khwarezm working in Baghdad composes a manual for solving equations: he reduces problems to a few standard types and demonstrates the operations of al-jabr, restoration, and al-muqabala, balancing. From the first word came algebra; from the Latin rendering of his name, the word algorithm. Another of his books explains the Indian numerals with zero and positional reckoning — the arithmetic we use to this day. He also compiles astronomical tables and a map of the inhabited world; in Europe his texts are studied into the sixteenth century.