Algebra Was Invented by a Persian but Where Does X Come From?
https://susainc.orgSept. 10, 2020–
By: Nazila Fathi
Let’s begin the school year with a question: where does x, the go-to symbol for the unknown quantity in mathematical equations, come from?
We know that algebra was born in the Middle East during the Golden Age of medieval Islamic civilization. Its roots can be traced to the work of Muhammad Kharazmi, or Al-Khwarizmi as Arabs refer to him, and his 9th-century book, Kitab al-jabr wal-muqabala, or al-jabr later morphing into algebra in English.
Kharazmi was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer geographer and a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. He was born in Persia of that time around 780 AD and was one of the most prominent scholars of his era.
Kharazmi wrote in Persian and Arabic, using the Arabic script, none of which have a single letter that is even close to x.
So, what is the origin of x?
The Ancient Roots of Algebra
Although Kharazmi is known as the father of algebra, he was not the only person who invented algebra. Many people at different times and in different places discovered and developed it.
Babylon and Egypt are the two places that were at the center of the development of algebra in the ancient world. Both of these civilizations used algebra in different ways and for different reasons. There is evidence that Babylonians first made basic use of algebra and pioneered its beginnings in the field of mathematics as early as 1900 to 1600 BC. The tablet known as the Plimpton 322 displays pythagorean triples and other forms of mathematics. The Babylonians used algebra to work out the area of items and the interest on loans, among other things. It had a real use and purpose.
We also know Euclid, a Greek mathematician who flourished in Alexandria, Egypt, around 300 BC, contributed to algebra. The great 7th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta wrote some important works on both mathematics and astronomy as well.
In other words, algebraic ideas were discovered multiple times by different people. In ancient times, the news did not travel as fast it does in modern times. Therefore, it was natural for people to discover new ideas in different parts of the world without knowing that those same ideas had been developed by people in other regions.
The House of Wisdom
When the Arabs conquered Persia, the country we call Iran today, they banned the depiction of the human face, figures or any kind of animate beings. The idea stemmed in part from the prohibition of idolatry and from the belief that the creation of living forms is God’s prerogative. So, during their rule, from 750 to 1258 AD, artists focused on geometric patterns. Islamic craftsmen turned geometry into an art form because pictures of people were not allowed in holy places.
The geometric designs in Islamic art are often complex and sophisticated, which indicates their creators had knowledge of geometry, numbers and math. Those designs are still used in Persian carpets and kilims and other forms of arts around the Muslim world.
In 762, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur moved his capital to Baghdad. Later, the Caliph al-Ma’mun (813-833) established the House of Wisdom, or the Grand Library of Baghdad, which became a major public academy and intellectual center. Through the 9th and 10th centuries, it acted as a center for the great translation program of knowledge that scholars had accumulated and built on through their own discoveries. Al-Hajjaj translated Euclid into Arabic later in this century. Indian scholars brought Brahmagupta’s astronomical works where they translated them into Arabic. The work of Greek scholar, Diophantus, was also translated and Baghdad became a center for learning, attracting many scholars from the known world.
It is fair to say that Kharazmi took advantage of the works that had been translated into Arabic at the House of Wisdom and wrote his book on algebra. He was probably the first among a number of scholars who showed how the geometrical constructions of Euclid and the arithmetical heritage from Diophantus’ Arithmetica, and the ideas from the Middle East and Indian scholars could make sense together. He blended the ideas and defined clearly the classes of problems to be solved.
Let’s go back to the question of x. At the House of Wisdom, Kharazmi and other mathematicians referred to the unknown quantity as shay, meaning the thing in Arabic.
But when Kharazmi’s book was translated into Latin in the 12th century, shay was translated into Greek as xei. Old Spanish had “sh” sound routinely spelled with x, which later evolved to a sound at the back of the throat. Gradually, xei was shortened to x and so the unknown became x as we know it today.
In fact, ‘algorithm’ is taken from the Latin version of Kharazmi’s name too. When his book was translated into Latin some 300 years after his death, his name was Latinized and became Algoritmi, which shows just how important his influence on mathematics was.
How did Algebra Shape the Modern World?
Today, algebra is used extensively in engineering and construction planning to ensure that buildings, bridges, airplanes, and more are built safely and correctly. In the financial sector, algebra is used in predicting risks and in assessing economic impacts.
Algebra has been crucial to the development of science and the way we live today. None of the great achievements of modern science would be possible without the development of algebra. Google, the internet, mobile phones, computer games wouldn’t exist without algebra and algorithms.
iPhones, iPads or digital televisions would never be invented without it.
Algebra is essential and students learn it in high school. It helps develop the brain.
When my kids ask how algebra will help them in life, I tell them that it trains their mind to think logically. Algebra and math teach them to break down and solve problems. They might reach a point where they don’t use algebra on a daily basis. But their brain will have been trained to think in a logical way, which will not only help them in the workplace, but also in daily life, when buying something, negotiating with someone, or having to address a complex problem.
How a Group of High Tech Entrepreneurs Inspired Their Community
June 23, 2020–
By: Nazila Fathi
Late last month, a group of immigrants called iBRIDGES held a virtual conference on a Zoom call to bring a cross-generational community of high tech entrepreneurs of Iranian-descent together. Their previous conferences had drawn hundreds of participants from all around the world.
This time, they were not sure if the two-and-half-hour virtual event, which had replaced a conference in Stockholm, Sweden, would garner a large audience. There was no chatting or greetings with some of the leading investors.
But the global pandemic had prompted some soul-searching questions. Entrepreneurs Kamran Elahian, CEO of Global Innovation Catalyst, and Fereydoun Taslimi, CEO of Sensorscall, had never before seen a risk scenario as unpredictable and confusing as the coronavirus pandemic.
“Over 25 percent of Startups in our incubator at Atlanta Tech Village, which is the fourth largest in the US, have gone out of business,” Taslimi, the president of iBRIDGES, said.
Private funding declined steeply during the pandemic. The prospect of going back to normal any time soon seemed dim. Many high-tech startups had no choice but to close.
iBRIDGES Aims to Connect a Fragmented Community
Like other immigrant communities, entrepreneurs of Iranian-descent are scattered around the world. To say the least, many are marginalized.
So they embraced iBRIDGES when Elahian along with several Iranian academics and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs founded it in 2014. iBRIDGES’s aimed to create a community of high tech entrepreneurs to exchange knowledge, best practices and innovative thinking. Their events in Berkeley, Toronto, Barcelona and Berlin attracted large crowds.
For the virtual event on May 30, the group invited some of the most inspiring Iranians. Among the speakers were Anousheh Ansari, CEO of X-Prize, who became the first female space tourist and Firouz Naderi, the former Director of Solar System Exploration at NASA’s JPL, who has an asteroid named after him.
To their surprise, nearly a thousand people logged to Zoom. Among the speakers were Iranian and non-Iranian, high tech startups and venture capitalists. Every single one of them urged the audience to find paths around every hang-up and ride out this storm.
Sheherzade Semsar, CEO of Politico EU, said startups should make their business model “COVID-proof.”
The moderator, Niclas Carlsson, CEO of Founders Alliance, urged the audience “to pivot now and get to the other side.”
Naderi proclaimed that “with every crisis comes an opportunity.”
Ansari went a step farther and called the crisis “a great time.” Because, she said, “at the heart of every innovator is a problem-solver.” She added that startups could re-examine everything and digitize any aspect of their business they could in this environment.
Their advice was the tell-tale sign of their ironclad resolve. Johann Romefort, the Managing Director of Techstars in Munich, Germany, put the conversation in context when he referred to entrepreneurs as “disruptors” who wouldn’t get deterred by failure.
In fact, many of those present had extraordinary stories.
Becoming an Entrepreneur During the Hostage Crisis
Elahian, the iBRIDGES co-founder, began his journey at the age of 18 when he left Iran to attend the University of Utah. For the young Tech-savvy Iranian, the University of Utah was an exciting place. It was where computer graphics was invented in the late 60s and was the playground of the founders of Pixar, Adobe, Attari, and Silicon Graphics in the early 70s. Elahian got two Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree by the age of 22. He joined Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto and as part of HP’s honor program was accepted to Stanford University to design a communication chip.
But as his real-life experience began, the road got bumpy. The chip did not work. Then, HP rejected his proposal to lead a program that would use computer graphics in the development of Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software. He was too young and inexperienced, they told him.
Frustrated, and eager to launch his own company, he left HP. By this time, the Islamic Revolution had ousted the Shah in Iran and held 52 American diplomats hostage.
Never Took No for an Answer
Elahian began looking for venture capital at a time when his home country was officially a pariah state. Investors suggested that he should change his name to sound less Iranian.
Further, diversity and inclusion were myths back then, too.
“They said immigrants can make good engineers but not CEOs,” Elahian told me.
Ninety-four investors turned him down before he was able to raise money. The rejections helped him develop the resilience necessary to weather the obstacle-ridden road of entrepreneurship.
Three years later, in 1984, he sold the company, CAE Systems, to Tektronix Corporation for $75 million.
Over the next sixteen years, he co-founded nine startups and built three unicorn startups—companies worth more than $1 billion.
“You win only when you overcome the fear of failure,” he told the audience on May 30.
“The only way you find out if your way works is by trying.”
His story resonates with other entrepreneurs. Fast-forward, over three decades later, another young Iranian, pursued a similar dream.
Immigrants Are Resilient
Martin Basiri, 32, believes that immigrants, by nature, fit the profile of an entrepreneur.
“If you are not a risk-taker, you don’t leave your country in the first place,” he told me from his home in Kitchener Waterloo, Ontario.
“Those who migrate are different from average people from their circumstances to their personalities.”
He may be right. Planning for an arduous path, hard work, and a steep learning curve are all experiences common among entrepreneurs starting new ventures and also for immigrants starting a new life in a different country.
In 2010, Basiri came from Iran to Canada on a one-way ticket. His English wasn’t good and he had $6,800 in his pocket.
He finished a Master’s degree in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and moved to Ohio for two years. While working to improve his English, he helped his two younger twin brothers, Meti and Massi Basiri, immigrate to Canada.
In 2015, he applied for funds to start his company, ApplyBoard, a digital platform that helps international students find and apply to schools. He, too, was rejected by some 200 investors. By the time he attended the iBRIDGES Toronto conference, he was already on the right path. “Naderi‘s talk gave me goose-bumps,” he said, adding how important it was to meet successful Iranians who had made it during tougher times.
By this time, Basiri and his brothers had cemented their own reputation as entrepreneurs in Canada. His brothers who work with him were named among Forbes three top 30 under 30 list. They were among the top 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Basiri’s company has helped over 100,000 international students to study in North America. It employs 520 people and is worth $1.4 billion today.
Passing the Torch
It is stories like Basiri’s that propels iBRIDIGES to step up its efforts, even as COVID-19 is wreaking havoc.
Nadereh Chamlou, iBRIDGES board-member and former senior advisor to the World Bank, told me that Iranians are dynamic outside Iran and contribute to the economies of the countries where they lived in. “iBRIDGES wants to create a community for high tech startups so that people can pass on their experience and help one another,” she said.
iBRIDGES intends to ramp up its website to provide more resources for startups, like webinars with speakers and coaches.
“A lot of Iranian immigrants contact us and many of them have great ideas,” Taslimi told me from his home in Atlanta, Georgia. “But most of them cannot raise funds and have a difficult life as some have immigrated to countries with little opportunity.”
And as almost every business, from small start-ups to the largest tech companies in the world, is preparing for a challenging year, Naderi has found himself coaching younger people.
“I had to think like a startup during my entire career,” the seventy-four-year-old NASA scientist said. He spent most of his career conceiving ideas like sending a spacecraft to the moon of Jupiter.
“So, it was easy for me to coach young people,” he said. “They don’t lack ideas but they are looking for a soundboard to execute their ideas.”
Naderi may be the perfect person for it. He believes in approaching projects in a methodical way. “How do you go about them systematically?” he asked.
Enjoy Rahmanian’s Feathers of Fire From the Comfort of Your Living Room
By: Nazila Fathi
May 14, 2020–
Hamid Rahmanian’s Feathers of Fire sparked a connection when it played in some of the largest theaters around the world. The award-winning show, a story based on the Shahnameh, performed live for three years.
By releasing Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic movie on streaming service Vimeo this month, Rahmanian, the creator of the show, wants to introduce an uplifting Persian story to a larger audience.
“I want to show Iran’s culture in a positive light,” Rahmanian, an award-winning artist, told me from his Brooklyn home.
“And I want people to take a break for 70 minutes.”
“We all need hope during these dark times,” he added.
The visually breathtaking show is adapted from the 11th-century Persian epic book of the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, by Abolqasem Ferdowsi. It is among its very few stories that have a happy ending.
Feathers of Fire: An Excellent Movie in Coronavirus Lockdown
Feathers of Fire begins with birth and ends with birth. There are no deaths in the story.
I found Feathers of Fire, not just uplifting, but also relevant and inspiring. It is a story of leadership, tenacity, and the power of people to unite against adversity. The characters are puppets, but the audience sees only their shadows, which makes the show almost magical. The light and the soundtrack create a breath-taking ambiance.
NYC Theatre Review called it “magnificent” because all of the magic occurs live right before your very eyes.
“What the Walt Disney Company does for hundreds of millions of dollars in a single animated film that takes five years or more to create, the Feathers of Fire ensemble and the creative team does in eighty minutes using a centuries-old art form, elaborately designed shadow puppets, modern multimedia techniques, and a diverse company of extremely skilled and gifted actors,” it wrote.
Moral Lessons
The Shahnameh came out in 1010. Ten centuries later, some of those challenges still ring true.
Feathers of Fire tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Zaul and Rudabeh, who triumph against all odds.
Their secret? Wisdom and diplomacy rather than war, a much-needed policy in the world today.
Unlike other characters of the Shahnameh, whose lives perish by revenge or wrath, Zaul, a Persian knight, wins.
The story begins with Saum, a Persian knight, leaving his Albino infant, Zaul, in the forest to die. A mythical bird finds and raises the child. He enters into forbidden love with the princess Rudabeh after Saum repents and brings Zaul back to court. The king dispatches a large army to raze Rudabeh’s city to the ground to prevent the marriage. But, a wise and diplomatic Zaul persuades the king that his marriage to Rudabeh poses no threat.
Eventually, Zaul prevails and prevents a devastating battle. Their union gives birth to Rostam, the Hercules of Iran, and one of the main characters of the Shahnameh.
I admire and share Rahmanian’s passion for telling Persian stories to a cross-cultural audience. Through my books, My Name is Cyrus and Avicenna, The Father of Modern Medicine, I aim to create a connection, too, and introduce kids to global stories.
International stories are crucial in changing our perspectives about other cultures and recognizing how similar we are.
The Shahnameh, A Timeless Book
Iranians regard the Shahnameh as a literary masterpiece.
The book reflects Iran’s history, cultural values, its ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, and its profound sense of nationhood.
Ferdowsi completed the Shahnameh at a time when national independence had been compromised after the fall of the Persian Empire. The book begins with the creation of the world and the origin myths of the arts of civilization and ends with the Arab conquest of Persia in the seventh century. A mix of myth and history, the characters take the readers on heroic adventures filled with superhuman champions, magical creatures, heart-wrenching love stories, and centuries-long battles.
Although the book is the embodiment of the pre-Islamic Persian soul, it offers much more than a national treasure. Ferdowsi labored thirty years to create the world’s longest epic poems. As a document of human collective consciousness, it reflects the dilemmas of the human condition as it confronts us with the timeless questions of our existence.
Rahmanian’s Engaging Narrative
Rahmanian is not a novice to the Shahnameh.
He has spent the past 12 years working on the book. His first work on the Shahnameh was a modernized translation of some of the stories with miniature illustrations. The translator, Ahmad Sadri, a professor of Sociology and Anthropology, produced masterful prose in English, making the stories understandable even to native Persian speakers like me, who find the old Persian poetry difficult to read. The book is called Shahnameh, The Epic of the Persian Kings. It took Rahmanian, who is a graphic designer by training, four years to complete the 600 illustrated pages of the book (audiobook is also available).
In Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King, another puppet show, he told the story of a mythical character, the misguided Prince Zahhak, who is easily swayed by the devil to overthrow his crowned father. The Devil empowers King Zahhak by giving him monstrous snakes that grow out of the king’s shoulders.
After the puppet show, Rahmanian made the pop-up book, Zahak: The Legend of the Serpent King. It won the 2018 Meggendorfer prize. With the book, Rahmanian told me, he wanted “to delight the imaginations of readers all over the world from ages 2 to 102.”
In Pursuit of Perfection
It took two years to create Feathers of Fire, to make the puppets and rehearse until the performance was flawless. The show employs eight actors, 160 puppets and 15 masks and costumes. Its 134 animated backgrounds are rear-projected onto a vast, 15- by 30-foot screen.
“Backstage must work like a Swiss-made watch, every detail has to perform and execute perfectly, otherwise the show would not look correctly,” Rahmanian told me.
Rahmanian’s next project, Song of the North, is another shadow puppet production. It is the story of Persia’s Princess Manijeh, a hero who rescues her beloved from a perilous predicament of her own making.
The release date of Feathers of Fire this month is not accidental: on May 15, Iranians celebrate to commemorate Ferdowsi.
However, the biggest prize, Rahmanian told me, was that he had shared Iran’s rich visual and literary culture with a global audience. The show had 112 performances around the world. It sold out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and CLA’s Freud Playhouse among many other theaters.
Francis Ford Coppola, the famed filmmaker, saw it no less than three times.
He called it “spectacular cinematic wizardry.”
Rent Feathers of Fire here.