Re: [NTLK] Etymology of Mathematics. Can't let that slide.

From: Michael J. Hußmann (michael_at_michael-hussmann.de)
Date: Wed Mar 24 2004 - 15:14:12 PST


Norman Palardy (palardyn_at_shaw.ca) wrote:

> The word Algorithm comes from Arabic roots if I recall correctly

Well, sort of. It's a proper name. Abu Jafar Mohammed ibn Musa Al
Khwarizmi was a mathematician who first described a mechanical method of
adding two numbers. When his book on algebra was translated into Latin,
his name was latinized as "Algorithmus". Later, his name got to be
applied to the kind of mechanical methods he had described. The thing
itself is older than the word, though, the Euclidean algorithm being the
oldest algorithm known. As others have noted, Arabic mathematics drew
from Greek and Indian sources; Egypt didn't play a role here.

- Michael

Michael J. Hußmann

E-mail: michael_at_michael-hussmann.de
WWW (personal): http://michael-hussmann.de
WWW (professional): http://digicam-experts.de

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Mar 24 2004 - 15:30:02 PST