Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Algorism
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{short description|Mathematical technique for arithmetic}} {{distinguish|Algorithm|Agorism}} {{SeeAlso|Algorismus (disambiguation)}} [[File:Houghton Typ 520.03.736 - Margarita philosophica.jpg|right|thumb|250px|''Calculating-Table'' by [[Gregor Reisch]]: ''Margarita Philosophica'', 1503. The woodcut shows ''Arithmetica'' instructing an [[Algorism|algorist]] and an abacist (inaccurately represented as [[Boethius]] and [[Pythagoras]]). There was keen competition between the two from the introduction of the ''[[The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing|Algebra]]'' into Europe in the 12th century until its triumph in the 16th.<ref name="Boyer253">{{cite book | last1 = Boyer | first1 = Carl B. | last2 = Merzbach | first2 = Uta C. | author2-link = Uta Merzbach | title = A History of Mathematics | year = 1991 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons, Inc. | edition = 2nd | isbn = 978-0-471-54397-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofmathema00boye |pages=252–253}}</ref>]] '''Algorism''' is the technique of performing basic [[arithmetic]] by writing numbers in [[place value]] form and applying a set of memorized rules and [[mathematical table|facts]] to the digits. One who practices algorism is known as an '''algorist'''. This [[positional notation]] system has largely superseded earlier calculation systems that used a different set of symbols for each numerical [[Magnitude (mathematics)|magnitude]], such as [[Roman numerals]], and in some cases required a device such as an [[abacus]]. ==Etymology== The word ''algorism'' comes from the name [[Al-Khwārizmī]] (c. 780–850), a [[Persians|Persian]]<ref>Clifford A. Pickover (2009). The Math Book: From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-4027-5796-9.</ref><ref>Corbin, Henry (1998). The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy. North Atlantic Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-55643-269-9.</ref> [[mathematician]], [[astronomer]], [[geographer]] and [[scholarly method|scholar]] in the [[House of Wisdom]] in [[Baghdad]], whose name means "the native of [[Khwarezm]]", which is now in modern-day [[Uzbekistan]].<ref name="toomer"/><ref name="Hogendijk"/><ref name="Oaks"/> He wrote a treatise in Arabic language in the 9th century, which was translated into [[Latin]] in the 12th century under the title ''Algoritmi de numero Indorum''. This title means "Algoritmi on the numbers of the Indians", where "Algoritmi" was the translator's Latinization of Al-Khwarizmi's name.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Sfrxde0CXIC Al-Khwarizmi: The Inventor of Algebra], by Corona Brezina (2006)</ref> Al-Khwarizmi was the most widely read mathematician in Europe in the late Middle Ages, primarily through his other book, the [[Al-Jabr|Algebra]].<ref>[http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Extras/Boyer_Foremost_Text.html Foremost mathematical texts in history], according to [[Carl B. Boyer]].</ref> In late medieval Latin, ''algorismus'', the corruption of his name, simply meant the "decimal number system" that is still the meaning of modern English algorism. During the 17th century, the French form for the word – but not its meaning – was changed to ''[[algorithm]]'', following the model of the word ''[[logarithm]]'', this form alluding to the ancient Greek {{nowrap|''arithmos'' {{=}} number}}. English adopted the French very soon afterwards, but it wasn't until the late 19th century that "algorithm" took on the meaning that it has in modern English.<ref>Etymology of algorithm at [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/algorithm Dictionary.Reference.com]</ref> In English, it was first used about 1230 and then by Chaucer in 1391.<ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]] (first quote ''c'' 1230 CE, Chaucer ''c'' 1391, and later quotes showing continuing usage since then)</ref> Another early use of the word is from 1240, in a manual titled ''Carmen de Algorismo'' composed by [[Alexandre de Villedieu]]. It begins thus: {{quote|''Haec algorismus ars praesens dicitur, in qua / Talibus Indorum fruimur bis quinque figuris.''}} which translates as: {{quote|This present art, in which we use those twice five Indian figures, is called algorismus.}} The word ''[[algorithm]]'' also derives from ''algorism'', a generalization of the meaning to any set of rules specifying a computational procedure. Occasionally ''algorism'' is also used in this generalized meaning, especially in older texts. ==History== Starting with the [[integer]] [[arithmetic]] developed in India using [[base 10]] notation, [[Al-Khwārizmī]] along with other [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|mathematicians in medieval Islam]], documented new arithmetic methods and made many other contributions to decimal arithmetic (see the articles linked below). These included the concept of the decimal fractions as an extension of the notation, which in turn led to the notion of the [[decimal point]]. This system was popularized in Europe by Leonardo of Pisa, now known as [[Fibonacci]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-Pisano|title=Leonardo Pisano {{!}} Italian mathematician|access-date=2016-08-23}}</ref> ==See also== * [[Algorithmic art]] * [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] * [[History of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] * [[Johannes de Sacrobosco]] * [[Mental calculation]] * [[Positional notation]] ==References== {{commons category|Algorismus}} {{reflist|refs= <ref name="Hogendijk">{{cite journal|first=Jan P. |last=Hogendijk |title=al-Khwarzimi |journal=Pythagoras |volume=38 |issue=2 |year=1998 |pages=4–5 |issn=0033-4766 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319024147/http://www.kennislink.nl/web/show?id=116543 |archive-date=March 19, 2008 |url-status=dead |url=http://www.kennislink.nl/web/show?id=116543 }}</ref> <ref name="Oaks">{{cite web |first=Jeffrey A. |last=Oaks |url=http://facstaff.uindy.edu/~oaks/MHMC.htm |title=Was al-Khwarizmi an applied algebraist? |publisher=[[University of Indianapolis]] |access-date=2008-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718094835/http://facstaff.uindy.edu/~oaks/MHMC.htm |archive-date=2011-07-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name="toomer">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Toomer | first = Gerald | author-link = Gerald Toomer | title = Al-Khwārizmī, Abu Ja'far Muḥammad ibn Mūsā | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume = 7 | editor = Gillispie, Charles Coulston | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons | location = New York | date = 1990 | isbn = 978-0-684-16962-0 | url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830902300.html}}</ref>}} [[Category:Numeral systems]] [[Category:Algorithms]] [[Category:Eponyms in mathematics]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Commons category
(
edit
)
Template:Distinguish
(
edit
)
Template:Nowrap
(
edit
)
Template:Quote
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:SeeAlso
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)