Why? algorithms are called Glgorithms

We think of the algorithm as something new, but the term goes back about 900 years. The naming algorithm comes from the name of the Persian mathematician, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi.

He was born about 780 AD in what is now Uzbekistan. His name suggests he is from Khwarizm. Known as al-Khwarizmi, he was a director of the House of Wisdom, the intellectual center of the 9th Century scholars of Baghdad.

He made new contributions to mathematics, astronomy, geography, and cartography, and authored an influential work called Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning. Some 300 years later, the book was rediscovered and it was translated into Latin.

It introduced Hindu and Arabic numerals to Western lands, which eventually replaced the unruly Romans. 

The Hindu-Arabic numerals system, as well as the decimal, both described by al-Khwarizmi in his book are the basis of the numbers we use around the world today. 

The name Al-Khwarizmi, when rendered in Latin in the title of the book, became algorithmic.

And this is the origin of the word algorithm. We also have al-Khwarizmi thanks to him for the word algebra, which comes from one of his books. 

His books transformed statistics into Western lands, showing how complex problems can be broken down into simple parts and solved. In medieval Latin, the algorithm simply means a system of decimal numbers.

By the 13th century, it had become an English word and was used, for example, by Chaucer. 

But it was not until the end of the 19th century that the algorithm finally stated a set of step-by-step rules for solving the problem.

 At the beginning of the 20th century, Alan Turing, a British mathematician, and computer scientist argued that, in theory, a machine could follow algorithmic instructions and solve complex calculations. 

This was the birth of the computer age. During World War II, he built a machine called Bombe, which used algorithms to break the Enigma code.

Today the algorithm is a common term, even if you are not always sure what the algorithm does.

 Algorithms are everywhere now, helping us move from A to B, conduct online searches, and make recommendations for things you can buy, view or share. 

And predicting how we will vote or who we are dating. This little word from ancient Persia is slowly changing our lives.