ALGORITHM
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation.Algorithm is actually specifically a man's name.
When the name of the father of Algebra, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a 9th-century Persian polymath was latinized in Europe, it became Algoritmi
Working at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, his treatises on Hindu-Arabic numerals were translated into Latin as "Algoritmi de numero Indorum". Over centuries, this name evolved into "algorism" and eventually "algorithm"
"Algoritmi de numero Indorum" (Latin for "Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning") is one of the most historically significant mathematical texts in human history. Written in the early 9th century, it was the primary bridge through which the Indian decimal place-value system and the concept of ZERO were introduced to the Islamic world and eventually to Western Europe.
The original Arabic text (likely titled Kitāb al-Jamʿ wa-l-tafrīq bi-ḥisāb al-Hind or "The Book of Addition and Subtraction According to Hindu Calculation") has been lost to history.
ALGEBRA
Al-Khwarizmi revolutionized mathematics by introducing systematic methods for solving linear and quadratic equations using "reduction" and "balancing". Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī wrote his ground-breaking 9th-century treatise "Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa'l-muqābala" ("The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing") often shortened simply to Al-Jabr, the title held specific mathematical meanings
The first part of the title "Al-Jabr" meaning "restoration", "completion", or "rejoining broken parts".
In a mathematical sense it refers to the operation of moving a negative quantity from one side of an equation to the other to make it positive—essentially "restoring" or "completing" a missing amount.
The second term in the full title, al-muqābala, translates to "balancing" or "confrontation".
In a mathematical sense it refers to subtracting identical positive terms from both sides of the equation to reduce and balance it.
When the text was translated into Medieval Latin in the 12th century, the Arabic term al-jabr was simply transliterated as algebra, giving birth to the name of the mathematical discipline we use today.
ZERO
Al-Khwarizmi called zero "as-sifr" (meaning "empty" or "void"). Transliterated into Latin, it became cifra or zephirum, giving birth to the English words cipher and zero (as well as chiffre in French and Ziffer in German).
CYPHER/CIPHER
The English word "cipher" (also spelled cypher) has a rich history, serving multiple distinct roles in cryptography, mathematics, hip-hop culture, and everyday speech.
It began with the Sanskrit term śūnya (शून्य), meaning "empty" or "void". Islamic mathematicians translated śūnya into Arabic as ṣifr (صِفْر), which also meant "empty" or "zero". In the 12th century, European scholars adopted the word into Latin as cifra (and later Old French cifre) to mean "zero". By the late 14th century, it entered English as cipher. Because Roman numerals had no zero, Europeans found the new Arabic zero mysterious and confusing.
The Italian mathematician Fibonacci translated ṣifr into zephirum, which shrank over time into the modern word zero. Thus, cipher and zero are etymological twins from the exact same root word!
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