Did the West get Algebra from the Arabs? If so when?

Answer 1

It were neither the Arabs nor the Persians. According to the famous mathematician turned philosopher Nobel Laurette Lord Bertrand Russell,
"About 830 A.D., Muhammad bin Musa AL-Khwarizmi, a translator of mathematical and astronomical books from the Sanskrit, published a book which was translated into Latin in the twelfth century, under the title 'Algorithm de numero Indrum'. It was from this book that the West first learnt of what we call 'Arabic' numerals, which ought to be called Indian."

Our friend Steve T above may please update his records that what Wiklipedia is attributing to the Persian scholar is a mere translation of the Sanskrit treatise by Brahmadutta in India.

Answer 2

The Arabs sorta brought it to the West when they invaded Spain. But the Romans and or Greeks could have learned it from them during the many campaigns of war and peace that they both went through.
I do not think an Arab came up with it and I do not think a Westerner came up with something else. We are all Humans first, when that thought takes hold in the backward minds of all that hate, we will be makeing a good equation.

Answer 3

No.

The name is derived from the treatise written by the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī titled Al-Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala (meaning "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing"), which provided symbolic operations for the systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations.

Persians are not Arabs.

The origins of algebra can be traced to the ancient Babylonians, who developed an advanced arithmetical system with which they were able to do calculations in an algebraic fashion. With the use of this system they were able to apply formulas and calculate solutions for unknown values for a class of problems typically solved today by using linear equations, quadratic equations, and indeterminate linear equations. By contrast, most Egyptians of this era, and most Indian, Greek and Chinese mathematicians in the first millennium BC, usually solved such equations by geometric methods, such as those described in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, Sulba Sutras, Euclid's Elements, and The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. The geometric work of the Greeks, typified in the Elements, provided the framework for generalizing formulae beyond the solution of particular problems into more general systems of stating and solving equations.

Answer 4

Because algebra uses letters as stand-in for real numbers, the Romans and the Hebrews never developed algebra, since there is no difference between letters and numbers in their numerical systems. Letters represented actual numbers.

Answer 5

Students of ancient Egypt had to know how to solve a problem like this:
<> it’s algebra problem.
But algebra of nowadays with litters and signs is achievement of the West!

Answer 6

Actually, I believe it was the Romans & The Greeks, just like much of our social structure today is based on lessons learned then - including stuctures.