以下是代數Algebra 一詞的語源學（翻譯自維基）：
“代數”一詞來自阿拉伯語單詞 ????? al-jabr，這來自中世紀波斯數學家Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī在830年寫的論文，其阿拉伯語標題Kitāb al-mu?ta?ar fī ?isāb al-?a該論文提供了線性方程和二次方程的係統解。根據一段曆史，“還不確定al-jabr和muqabalah這兩個術語的含義，但通常的解釋與之前翻譯中暗示的解釋相似。“Al-jabr”一詞可能意味著類似“恢複”或“完成”的東西，似乎指的是將減去的項轉換到方程的另一側；“muqabalah”一詞據說是指“減少”或“平衡”——即在方程的兩側取消類似項。在al-Khwarizmi時代很久之後，阿拉伯語在西班牙的影響就出現在《堂吉訶德》中，其中“algebrista”一詞用於骨架，即“修複者”。1]該術語被al-Khwarizmi用來描述他引入的操作，“還原”和“平衡”，指的是將減去的項移至方程的另一側，即方程兩側的類似項的抵消。[2]
(原文）：
The word "algebra" is derived from the Arabic word ????? al-jabr, and this comes from the treatise written in the year 830 by the medieval Persian mathematician, Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, whose Arabic title, Kitāb al-mu?ta?ar fī ?isāb al-?abr wa-l-muqābala, can be translated as The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing. The treatise provided for the systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. According to one history, "[i]t is not certain just what the terms al-jabr and muqabalah mean, but the usual interpretation is similar to that implied in the previous translation. The word 'al-jabr' presumably meant something like 'restoration' or 'completion' and seems to refer to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation; the word 'muqabalah' is said to refer to 'reduction' or 'balancing'—that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation. Arabic influence in Spain long after the time of al-Khwarizmi is found in Don Quixote, where the word 'algebrista' is used for a bone-setter, that is, a 'restorer'."[1] The term is used by al-Khwarizmi to describe the operations that he introduced, "reduction" and "balancing", referring to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation.[2]
