title of Al-Khawarizmi's book of Algebra

[tZougari]

hi, when speaking about Al-Khawarizmi book in page 2 "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing" which is in arabic "Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa-l-muqabala" "al-mukhtasar" means the compendious as we can find here : https://search.worldcat.org/fr/title/kitab-al-mukhtasar-fi-hisab-al-jabr-wa-l-muqabala-by-muhammad-ibn-musa-al-khwarizmi-western-translations-and-adaptations-texts-and-studies/oclc/876591333?referer=di&ht=edition . but we also have the short title version "Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala" without "al" before "Kitab" . as we can find here in the summary : https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666184/ . Thank you !

[tawheeler]

Thank you for bringing this up. It seems that "al-" means "the", so whether we include it or not doesn't immediately seem wrong to me. @mykelk, maybe you can get a confirmation from an arabic-speaking faculty member or student?

[mykelk]

It appears both ways in various sources, but it appears to be more common with "al-" in front.

[tZougari]

we don't say in arabic "Al Kitab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala" .. arabic is my native tongue Al Kitab = الكتاب Kitab = كتاب . if you have only one arabic version with "Al" i 'll be happy to see it . in all the following arabic editions we have "كتاب الجبر و المقابلة"

. excuse me for insisting ! THANKS

[mykelk]

Got it. Does that mean that this is wrong? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jabr

Is the proposal to simply replace "Al Kitab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala" with "Kitab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala"?

[tZougari]

the answer to the second question is yes : ) . the answer to the first is no. am saying the same thing than Wikipedia see Note b : The Arabic title is sometimes condensed to Hisab al-Jabr wal-Muqabalah or Kitab al-Jabr wal-Muqabalah . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jabr#cite_note-2

[mykelk]

Sounds good. Let's do what you suggest and we can drop the "Al" in front in the next edition. I'll take care of that right now.

[mykelk]

And thanks for reporting this!