APersonIndependent states
Al-Khwarizmi
Mathematician and astronomer (c. 780–850), father of algebra, whose name gave us the word "algorithm".
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi came from Khwarazm, on the territory of today's Uzbekistan, and around 820 worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the scholarly centre of the Abbasid Caliphate.
His book al-Jabr gave the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations; "algebra" comes from its title and "algorithm" from the Latin spelling of his name.
His work introducing Indian numerals and the decimal system to the Islamic world, and from there to Europe, changed the history of mathematics. Monuments to him stand in Khiva and Urgench.
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Updated: October 3, 2026