Did you know…The word Algebra comes from the Arabic word “Al-Jabr” الجبر
We have Al-Khwarizmi (c.780-c.850) to thank for his work in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom. His book” “hisab aljbr w.al-muqabala” was later translated into Latin. His development of Algebra, the concept of "zero" and the number symbols call "Arabic Numbers" were some of many important contributions developed during the Golden Age of Islam.
George Rafael writes for Salon Magazine...
“A is for algebra From "al-jabr," Arabic for "restoration," itself a transliteration of a Latin term, and just one of many contributions Arab mathematicians have made to the "Queen of Sciences." Al-Khwarizmi (c.780-c.850), the chief librarian of the observatory, research center and library called the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, was the man responsible for making my life miserable at school. The motivation behind his treatise, "Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala" ("Calculation by Restoration and Reduction": widely used up to the 17th century), which covers linear and quadratic equations, was to solve trade imbalances, inheritance questions and problems arising from land surveyance and allocation. In passing, he also introduced into common usage our present numerical system, which replaced the old, cumbersome Roman one. Al-Karaji of Baghdad (953-c.1029), founder of a highly influential school of algebraic thought, defined higher powers and their reciprocals in his "al-Fakhri" and showed how to find their products. He also looked at polynomials and gave the rule for expanding a binomial, anticipating Pascal's triangle by more than six centuries. Arab syntheses of Babylonian, Indian and Greek concepts also led to important developments in arithmetic, trigonometry (the algorithm, for instance, thanks to al-Khwarizmi) and spherical geometry. “
Videos to watch:
From Al Jazeera (English): Al Khwarizmi - The father of algebra
Did you know...the number symbols we use today are called Arabic Numbers
From the SciShow: The Weird Truth About Arabic Numerals