The Babylonian Origin of the Quadratic Equations.
The Europeans first learned their algebra from the Algebra of Muhammed Ibn Musa al-Khuwarmizi (c. 820). Algebra was therefore regarded as an Arabic science and it retained its Arabic name, al-jabar, from the title of al-Khuwarmizi’s book, which is al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabar wal muqpabala. Now we know better. We know that as early as 2250 B.C. the science with some of its methods and types was already cultivated in the mathematical schools of the Babylonians, and that its very name, al-jabar, comes from the Babylonian language and means “equation, confrontation,” the confrontation of the two equal sides of the equation.
The Origin and Development of the Quadratic Equations in Babylonian, Greek, and Early Arabic Algebra
Solomon Gandz
Osiris, Vol. 3. (1937), pp. 405-557
Gandz also writes about the three schools of thought as to the first known algebra, India, Syria and Egypt. I have read recently that it was invented in Southeast Asia but can't find the source at present. |
