How 'algorithm' got its name from a 9th-century Persian mathematician

Published June 11, 2026 · Category: News

Overview

The first microcomputer named "Micral N" was created by the French engineer Francois Gernelle in 1973, five years before Apple and 3 years before IBM.

In the 9th century, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Kharizmi helped solidify the concept of algorithms in mathematics and popularized algebra and the use of the zero.

Details

(Image credit: Guillaume Souvant)

Source

Originally published at www.npr.org.

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