“The historical associations of the word algebra almost substantiate the sordid character of the subject. The word comes from the title of a book written by… Al Khowarizmi. In this title, al-jebr w' almuqabala, the word al-jebr meant transposing a quantity from one side of an equation to another and muqabala meant simplification of the resulting expressions. Figuratively, al-jebr meant restoring the balance of an equation… When the Moors reached Spain… algebrista… came to mean a bonesetter… and signs reading Algebrista y Sangrador (bonesetter and bloodletter) were found over Spanish barber shops. Thus it might be said that there is a good historical basis for the fact that the word algebra stirs up disagreeable thoughts.”

—  Morris Kline

Source: Mathematics and the Physical World (1959), p. 69

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The historical associations of the word algebra almost substantiate the sordid character of the subject. The word comes…" by Morris Kline?
Morris Kline photo
Morris Kline42
American mathematician 1908–1992

Related quotes

Erwin Schrödinger photo

“The "Schrödinger equation", equation (3') in "Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem, Vierte Mitteilung", Annalen der Physik (1926)”

Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) Austrian physicist

Robert Fisk photo

“Now quite apart from the fact that many Iraqis -- along with myself -- have grave doubts about whether [abu Marsab al-] Zarqawi exists and that al-Qaida's Zarqawi, if he does exist, does not merit the title of "insurgency mastermind,…”

Robert Fisk (1946) English writer and journalist

All the news that&#x27;s fit to slant http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/263664_fisk21.html, March 21, 2006 <br class="br">2006

Ahmad Jannati photo

“Al-Qaeda means Bush and Blair. Who established Al-Qaeda? You are the ones who should be put on trial. You were the mother of Al-Qaeda.”

Ahmad Jannati (1927) Iranian ayatollah

Terror in London (9) - Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati in Tehran Friday Sermon: The English Government May Have Caused the London Bombings Like the US Government May Have Caused 9/11 http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/758.htm July 2005. <br class="br">Al Qaeda

Ilana Mercer photo

“The National Education Association is the al-Qaida of education.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

&quot;Shafting Boys,&quot; http://www.ilanamercer.com/Shafting%20Boys.htm WorldNetDaily.com, January 27, 2006. <br class="br">2000s, 2006

P. J. O'Rourke photo

“"Malthus,", says Vice President Al Gore in Earth in the Balance, "was right in predicting that the population would grow geometrically." Al, as the father of four children, should know.”

P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist

All the Trouble in the World (1994)

Martin Luther photo

“It is better to think of church in the ale-house than to think of the ale-house in church.”

Martin Luther (1483–1546) seminal figure in Protestant Reformation

George Borrow photo

“He is not deserving of the name of Englishman who speaketh against ale, that is, good ale.”

George Borrow book Lavengro

Source: Lavengro (1851), Ch. 68

“That fondness for science, … that affability and condescension which God shows to the learned, that promptitude with which he protects and supports them in the elucidation of obscurities and in the removal of difficulties, has encouraged me to compose a short work on calculating by al-jabr and al-muqabala, confining it to what is easiest and most useful in arithmetic.”

Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī

As quoted in: Victor J. Katz (2009) A history of mathematics: an introduction. p. 271

Peter F. Drucker photo

“[T]hroughout the ages to be educated meant to be unproductive…. our word "school" - and its equivalent in all European languages - derives from a Greek word meaning "leisure."”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Source: 1930s- 1950s, Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World (1959), p. 115

Karen Armstrong photo

“Yet it is perhaps worth mentioning that the masculine tenor of God-talk is particularly problematic in English. In Hebrew, Arabic and French, however, grammatical gender gives theological discourse a sort of sexual counterpoint and dialectic, which provides a balance that is often lacking in English. Thus in Arabic al-Lah (the supreme name for God) is grammatically masculine, but the word for the divine and inscrutable essence of God—al-Dhat—is feminine.”

Karen Armstrong book A History of God

A History of God (1993)

Related topics