Liber embadorum (quadratic equations in Latin)
Liber embadorum (ecuaciones cuadráticas en latín)
- Date
- 1116-1145 · confidence medium
- Place
- Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Credited to
- Abraham bar Hiyya (Savasorda) and Plato of Tivoli
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A treatise on practical geometry by the Barcelona Jew Abraham bar Hiyya, translated into Latin with Plato of Tivoli in 1145. It contains the first complete solution of quadratic equations to reach Latin Europe, with geometric proofs.
The Hebrew original (Hibbur ha-meshihah ve-ha-tishboret) is dated to about 1116; the milestone date is that of the Latin translation of 1145. “First” refers to Latin Europe: quadratic equations were already solved in the Islamic and Mesopotamian worlds.
What it led to
- a source for Fibonacci's Practica geometriae
- spread of al-Khwarizmi's algebra in Latin Europe
- practical land-surveying geometry in Latin