Fibonacci by Leonardo da Pisa

He was an Italian mathematician who was the first great Western mathematician
after the decline of Greek science. The son of a merchant, Fibonacci drew the
motivation to mathematical inquiry1 from his commercial trips to the the Orient. It
was somewhere between Barbary (Maghreb) and Constantinople (now Istanbul)
that he got acquainted with the Hindu-Arabic number system and discovered its
enormous practical advantages compared to the Roman numerals, which were still
current in Western Europe.

Performing even the simplest arithmetical operations with a non-positional notation

was a difficult endeavor2: for this task the merchants were forced to resort to the
abacus, a device where the numbers were represented by moving balls. Fibonacci
exposed the new alternate computing method--based on written algorithms rather
than on counting objects--in his Liber Abaci, first issued in 1202. The book began with
a presentation of what he called the ten "Indian figures" (0, 1, 2, ..., 9). It was
intended as an algebra manual for commercial use, and explained the arithmetical
rules using numerical examples derived, for example, from measure and currency
conversion, which were translated into proportions and solved by multiplication
(rule of three). The so-called Fibonacci sequence arose3 in this book from a concrete
question concerning the growth of a rabbit population. Geometric progressions
also appeared in problems related to legacy and interest.

The treatise Practica Geometriae, published in 1225, is mainly inspired by Greek

mathematics; it contains theorems from Euclid's Elements and also Heron's formula
for the area of a triangle.

Fibonacci distinguished himself in the mathematical competitions proposed at the

court of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, King of the Two Sicilies, who had his
royal seat in Palermo. His striking4 ability in solving algebraic equations of higher
degree clearly emerges from his works entitled Liber Quadratorum and Flos, both of
which appeared in 1225. The first contains formulas and equations involving perfect
squares, the second owes its fame to the irrational solution of a cubic equation,
which Fibonacci determined with an accuracy of 10 -9. Most of his solving techniques
seem to be based on the algebraic works of al-Khwarizmi.

Fibonacci initiated the tradition of the maestri d'abaco, experts in practical algebra
and arithmetic, who flourished5 in Italy during the 14th century, and can be
considered as the forerunners of Cardano, Tartaglia, and Ferrari.
1
A question you ask in order to get information
2
To try to do something new or difficult
3
If a problem or difficult situation arises, it begins to happen
4
Unusual and noticeable
5
To develop or grow and be successful