Al-Karaji

Who was Al-Karaji?

Abū Bakr ibn Muḥammad ibn al Ḥusayn al-Karajī was a 10th-century Persian or Arabic Muslim mathematician and engineer. His three major works are Al-Badi' fi'l-hisab, Al-Fakhri fi'l-jabr wa'l-muqabala, and Al-Kafi fi'l-hisab.

Because al-Karaji's original works in Arabic are lost, it is not certain what his exact name was. It could either have been al-Karkhī, indicating that he was born in Karkh, a suburb of Baghdad, or al-Karajī indicating his family came from the city of Karaj. He certainly lived and worked for most of his life in Baghdad, however, which was the scientific and trade capital of the Islamic world.