Al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–c. 850) was a Persian scholar at Baghdad's House of Wisdom whose book on al-jabr founded algebra as a discipline, and whose Latinized name, Algoritmi, gave us the word 'algorithm' — the step-by-step procedure behind every computer program. He also spread the Indian numerals the world calls Arabic numerals.
Working under the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun in the early 9th century, Al-Khwarizmi wrote on mathematics, astronomy and geography at a moment when Baghdad was the richest center of learning on earth. His algebra text of about 830 was translated into Latin in the 12th century and taught in European universities for centuries.
