Sand algorithms by Khwarizmi:

In the worksops the participants will have a hands-on experience of two methods of computation that existed in the middle ages:

the abacus computation (with pebbles) designed in the Roman empire, and the (much faster) sand computation by Khwarizmi using Hindu numbers. 

For the second method, we will deal with the elementary arithmetical operations until the extraction of square roots.

The sand computation does not require much space because Khwarizmi uses very efficient algorithms (as we would say) to deal with the intermediate steps in the computation.

The workshop is based on Khwarizmi’s treatise on computation which has only come down to us in a medieval Latin version.