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Marcus du Sautoy visits Fez, where the ancient Islamic school of wisdom was founded, and where Mahommed ben Musa al-Khwarizmi wrote his ‘lm al-jebr wa’l-muqabala’ calculation by restoration or reduction. Du Sautoy explains why algebra is so important in moving towards general proofs, using an example of square numbers.

A good enrichment clip, or introduction to any work on algebra, explaining where it came from and why it is so useful.