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Algebra Manuscript, Bodleian MS. Huntington 214

Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi · 1342

The only surviving Arabic manuscript of al-Khwarizmi's Al-Jabr, dated 1342, showing his geometric solutions to quadratic equations.

This manuscript preserves al-Khwarizmi's own geometric methods for solving quadratic equations in Al-Jabr.

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Open manuscript of two facing pages covered in handwritten Arabic script in brown ink on aged, yellowed paper, with small geometric diagrams drawn in red ink with labeled letters near the bottom of each page. The page edges are dark against a black background.
Copy of al-Khwarizmi's Al-Jabr, 1342. Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Huntington 214.

About this source

What it is

This manuscript page, held at Oxford's Bodleian Library, is part of the unique surviving Arabic copy of al-Khwarizmi's algebra treatise, dated 1342. It shows text alongside small geometric diagrams used to solve quadratic equations.

Why it matters

Because this is the only Arabic copy of the original text to survive, it is the closest link scholars have to al-Khwarizmi's own words and methods. The diagrams reveal that he solved equations geometrically, by completing squares, rather than with the symbols used today.

Look closer

  • Why might completing a square help someone solve an equation without using modern symbols?
  • What does it mean for our knowledge of a text that only one copy has survived?
  • How does writing by hand on parchment compare with how equations are written today?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Al-Khwarizmi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Manuscript title page in Arabic script with a decorated gold-and-brown border. The large heading reads the title of al-Khwarizmi's algebra work, with smaller lines of text beneath in a calligraphic hand, on aged parchment.Book

Primary source

Al-Jabr

Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi · c. 820

Black-and-white scan of a medieval Latin manuscript page. A large decorated initial D with ornate knotwork sits at upper left, and the text begins with 'DIXIT algorizmi' in dense handwritten script. A folio number 104 appears at top right.Book

Secondary source

Dixit Algorizmi

Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi

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Earliest Extant Map of the Nile

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Secondary source

Zij Manuscript, Corpus Christi College MS 283

Title page of an Arabic book. Large decorative calligraphic title reads الفهرست لابن النديم. Below is the date سنة ١٣٤٨ هـ. Lower text gives the publisher's details in Arabic, and a faint pencil note in Latin letters reads al-Nadim, Ibn-abi-Ya'qub at top left.Book

Secondary source

Al-Fihrist

Ibn al-Nadim · 987

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