Root extraction by Al-Kashi and Stevin (Q2347247)

This article examines in detail the algorithms for extracting roots found in two texts on arithmetic separated by more than a century and a half: Jamshīd Al-Kāshī's 1427 book \textsl{Miftāh al-hisāb} and Simon Stevin's 1585 book \textsl{L'arithmétique.} The methods presented in the two texts are similar but not identical. The treatment here of Al-Kāshī's algorithm follows \textit{J. L. Berggren}'s discussion in [Episodes in the mathematics of medieval Islam. New York etc.: Springer-Verlag (1986; Zbl 0626.01001)], and the authors provide their own translation of an illustrative example from Stevin.