Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi

Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi was a Muslim Arab mathematician who lived in the 10th century. He is best known for his book Kitab al-Fusul fi al-Hisab al-Hindi (The Book of Chapters on Hindu Arithmetic), which he wrote in Damascus in 952-953. It is the earliest surviving book that presents the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and the use of decimal fractions. He also described how to perform arithmetic operations with pen and paper, without using a dust board that required erasing. He claimed to have travelled widely and learned from all the experts and books on arithmetic that he could find. He also wrote another book on arithmetic, Kitab al-Hajari fi al-Hisab (The Book of the Stone on Calculation), which is now lost. His nickname al-Uqlidisi (the Euclidean) suggests that he was also involved in copying and selling manuscripts of Euclid's Elements. He is considered one of the pioneers of algebra and number theory in the Islamic world.