• DOI:10.1086/357950
• Corpus ID: 143878714

Two Twelfth Century Algorisms

@article{Karpinski1921TwoTC,
  title={Two Twelfth Century Algorisms},
  author={Louis Charles Karpinski},
  journal={Isis},
  year={1921},
  volume={3},
  pages={396 - 413}
}

• L. Karpinski
• Published 1 April 1921
• History
• Isis

The Latin treatises on the Hindu art of reckoning which antedate the XIVth century are sufficiently rare so that the addition even of anonymous works to the available literature on this subject is highly desirable. Doubtless the earliest of these algorisms are the two ascribed to AL-KHOWARIZMI, published by BONCOIMPAGN1 (i), the first a translation and the second probably an adaptation of the Arab's lost work on arithmetic. Of the XIIth century also are the fragments on multiplication and division by N. OCREAT (O'CREAT) (2), and the algorism published by NAGL (3) and again by CURTZE (4). Of the algorisms of the XIIIth century the three most widely used were the Carmen de algorismo (5) by ALEXANDER DE VILLA DEI, SACROBOSCO'S Algorismus vulgaris (6), and LEONARD OF PISA's Liber abaci (7). The A Igorithmns demonstratus of GERNARDUS (8), and the treatises ascribed to JORDANuS NEMORARIUS (9), all of the XIIIth century, were not widely