Al-Khwarizmi and the Word “Algorithm”
In short: How the name of a 9th-century Baghdad scholar, reshaped in medieval Latin as algorismus, became the word algorithm, and what historians still dispute about the trail.
A 1:31 short film in the series “From Fingers to Qubits”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, “Al-Khwarizmi - Biography”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Al-Khwarizmi | Biography & Facts | Britannica”; Academia.edu (hosting John Crossley's 1990 paper from Historia Mathematica, Elsevier BV), “Thus spake al-wārizmī: A translation of the text of Cambridge University Library Ms. Ii.vi.5”; Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Core), journal Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, “The Arabic Origins and Development of Latin Algorisms in the Twelfth Century | Arabic Sciences and Philosophy | Cambridge Core”; Merriam-Webster, “Definition of ALGORITHM”.
Sources used in this film
- MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews — Al-Khwarizmi - Biography · View →
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Al-Khwarizmi | Biography & Facts | Britannica · View →
- Academia.edu (hosting John Crossley's 1990 paper from Historia Mathematica, Elsevier BV) — Thus spake al-wārizmī: A translation of the text of Cambridge University Library Ms. Ii.vi.5 · View →
- Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Core), journal Arabic Sciences and Philosophy — The Arabic Origins and Development of Latin Algorisms in the Twelfth Century | Arabic Sciences and Philosophy | Cambridge Core · View →
- Merriam-Webster — Definition of ALGORITHM · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews: Al-Khwarizmi - Biography
- Also: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Al-Khwarizmi | Biography & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Academia.edu (hosting a scholarly paper translating Cambridge University Library Ms. Ii.vi.5; the site labels the abstra: Thus spake al-wārizmī: A translation of the text of Cambridge University Library Ms. Ii.vi.5
- Also: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Core), journal Arabic Sciences and Philosophy: The Arabic Origins and Development of Latin Algorisms in the Twelfth Century | Arabic Sciences and Philosophy | Cambridge Core
- Also: Merriam-Webster: Definition of ALGORITHM
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