3. SEQ
Life
Studies
Contribution in Algebra
Contribution in Arithmetic
Contribution in Astronomy
Contributions in Trigonometry
Contributions in Geography
Jewish Calendar
Al Khwarizmi and World Map
4. LIFE
Al Khwarizmi was born in 720 B.C in Baghdad.
He was born in a Persian family.
Al-Tabari gave his name as Muhammad ibn Musa al-
Khwārizmī al-Majousi al-Katarbali.
Al-Khwārizmī accomplished most of his work in the
period between 813 and 833.
He worked in Baghdad as a scholar at the House of
Wisdom established by Caliph al-Ma’mūn, where he
studied the sciences and mathematics, which included
the translation of Greek and Sanskrit scientific
manuscripts.
5. STUDIES
Al-Khwarizmi made contributions
to mathematics, geography, astronomy, and cartography.
Some of his work was based
on Persian and Babylonian astronomy, Indian numbers,
and Greek mathematics.
A major book by Al Khwarizmi was Kitab surat al-ard. He
also wrote on mechanical devices like
the astrolabe and sundial.
When, in the twelfth century, his works spread to Europe
through Latin translations, it had a profound impact on
the advance of mathematics in Europe.
7. TEXTBOOK OF ALGEBRA
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and
Balancing is a mathematical book written approximately
830 CE.
The term algebra is derived from the name of one of the
basic operations with equations described in this book
The book was translated in. A unique Arabic copy is kept
at Oxford and was translated in 1831 by F. Rosen. A Latin
translation is kept in Cambridge.
It provided an exhaustive account of solving polynomial
equations up to the second degree, and discussed the
fundamental methods of "reduction" and "balancing”.
8. Arithmetic
Al-Khwarizmi's second major work was on the subject of
arithmetic, which survived in a Latin translation.
Al-Khwarizmi's work on arithmetic was responsible for
introducing the Arabic numerals, based on the Hindu-Arabic
numeral system developed in Indian mathematics, to
the Western world.
Both "algorithm" and "algorism" are derived from
the Latinized forms of al-Khwarizmi's
name, Algoritmi and Algorismi, respectively.
9. ASTRONOMY
Al-Khwārizmī's Zīj al-Sindhind is a work consisting of
approximately 37 chapters on calendric and
astronomical calculations.
It contains 116 tables with calendric, astronomical and
astrological data, as well as a table of sine values.
The work contains tables for the movements of the sun,
the moon and the five planets known at the time.
The original Arabic version is lost, but a version by the
Spanish astronomer Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti has
survived in a Latin translation.
10. TRIGONOMETRY
Al-Khwārizmī's Zīj al-Sindhind also contained tables for
the trigonometric functions of sine's and cosine. A
related treatise on spherical trigonometry is also
attributed to him.
11. GEOGRAPHY
Al-Khwārizmī's third major work is his Kitāb Ṣūrat al-
Arḍalso known as his Geography.
The book opens with the list of latitudes and longitudes,
in order of "weather zones”
Al-Khwārizmī corrected Ptolemy's gross overestimate for
the length of the Mediterranean Sea from the Canary
Islands to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean sea.
He "also depicted the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans as open bodies of water, not land-locked seas as
Ptolemy had done in 833.
12. JEWISH CALENDER
Al-Khwārizmī wrote several other works including a
treatise on the Hebrew calendar.
It describes the 19-year intercalation cycle, the rules for
determining on what day of the week the first day of the
month Tishrī shall fall; calculates the interval between
the Jewish era (creation of Adam) and the Seleucid era.
He gives rules for determining the mean longitude of the
sun and the moon using the Jewish calendar. Similar
material is found in the works of al-Bīrūnī and
Maimonides.
13. AL KHWARIZMI WORLD MAP
He supervised the work
of 70 geographers to
create a map of the then
“known world”. When his
work became known in
Europe through Latin
translations, his
influence made a
permanent mark on the
development of science
in the West.
