The word “algebra” comes from the title of the book Al jabr w’al muqābalah, by Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khuwarizmi (783-c. 850; also seen as al-Khowarizmi or al-Khwarizmi). The book is roughly translated as Transposition and Reduction, in which he explained the basics of algebraic methods. (For more information about the history of algebra, see “History of Mathematics.”)