18 October, 2013

History of Civilizations, 111 (History Method; Algebra)

Mathematics are a study which has been touched upon by many ancient civilizations. Islamic mathematicians expounded upon a lot of Greek geometry, while mixing in discoveries by neighbouring cultures such as the Syrians and the Babylonians. Using these previous founding and their own ingenuity, Arabs scholars were able to develop algebra, the art of using arithmetic with unknown non-numerical objects in equations to find possible solutions for the unknowns. Other developments included the decimal place-value system and fractions, parabolas, and cubic equations.

The word algebra actually comes from the Arabic root جبر (jabr) which means “to set or fix” making الجبر (al-jabr) equate to “the fix” or “restore”, lending to the idea of solving the two sides of equations used in algebra lead to the solution. The findings found by scholars of this era are still used in modern times and have been the cornerstones to more advanced mathematics such as trigonometry.

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