ABSTRACT
The Muslims translated numerous Greek works in mathematics as they did in other fields of science. At the same time, they turned to the East and gathered all that was available in India in the way of science, and particularly in mathematics. In the ninth century the Muslim mathematician Al-Khwarizmi wrote his classical work on algebra, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabala. In this title the word Al-Jabr means transposing a quantity from one side of an equation to another, and Mugábala signified the simplification of the resulting expressions. Al-Khwarizmi emphasized that he wrote his algebra book to serve the practical needs of the people concerning matters of inheritance, legacies, partition, lawsuits, and commerce. The change from the Greek conception of a static universe to a new dynamic one was initiated by Al-Khwarizmi who was the herald of modern algebra, and the first mathematician to make algebra an exact science.
