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From: ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Re: "algebra" (more detail)
Message-ID: <691@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Feb-84 11:20:20 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.691
Posted: Thu Feb  9 11:20:20 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 20:01:58 EST
References: <339@ihlts.UUCP>, <579@ihuxq.UUCP>
Organization: NTT Systems Inc., Toronto, Canada
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According to page 1 of Knuth volume 1, "algebra" comes from the *title* of

	Kitab al jabr w'al muqabala
which means
	Rules of restoration and reduction.

The book was written in the 9th century by

	                         ^ ^        ^    ^
	Abu Ja`far Mohammed ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi
from whose name the word "algorithm" is derived, as noted previously.  "Abu"
means "father of", "ibn" means "son of", and "Khowa^rizm" is now Khiva, in
the Uzbek SSR.  Knuth adds that the book "isn't really very algebraic".

Mark Brader