Renaissance #189 – al-Khwari’zmi, the father of Algebra and the Algorithm (Reconquista #10)

One of the most important scholars that al-Mamun employed at the House of Wisdom was Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwari’zmi, the most famous Arabic mathematician and scientist. He was instrumental in introducing the Arabs to the Hindu numerals, carried out important work in geography, but his greatest legacy, of course, is his extraordinary book on Algebra. The Latinized version of his name is Algorithm. It’s hard to imagine advanced mathematics or science without algebra and algorithms.