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Title: Comprehensive Reference on Algebra and Equations

Description

This manuscript is a didactic work on arithmetic and algebra, composed in versified form, as a qasīda of 59 verses. It was composed by Ibn al-Hā’im al-Fardī in 1402 (804 A.H.). The beginning of the work also names ‛Alī b. ‛Abd al-Samad al-Muqrī al-Mālikī (died Dhu al-Ḥijja 1381 [782 A.H.]), a scholar and teacher who had come to Egypt and taught at the ‛Amr b. ‛As madrasa for several years. The main part of the qasīda begins by introducing and defining key terms in arithmetic and algebra, including the square root (jadhr), square (māl), cube (ka‛b, muka‛ab), and others. The four basic operations of addition (jam), subtraction (tarh), multiplication (darb), and division (taqsīm) then are introduced. The work then lists six standard problems in algebra and arithmetic. The manuscript was copied in 1882 (1299 A.H.) by a scribe named ‛Abd al-Fattāh, from a copy made by his teacher, Shaykh Ḥasan ‛Attār al-Azharī.