Algebra and Diophantine analysis. Edition, translation and commentary by Roshdi Rashed. Dual French-Arabic text (Q396725)

The book under review is a comprehensive study of two of the great works of the islamic mathematician Abū Kāmil who lived in the late ninth and early tenth century. One of these books is Abū Kāmil's \textit{Algebra} whose title in Arabic, \textit{Al-Jabr wal Muqabala}, has the exact wording of that of al-Khawarizmi's well-known book. Abū Kāmil's \textit{Algebra} is more comprehensive than that of al-Khawarizmi's, and it contains extra components that can be thought of as applications to geometry and arithmetic. The applications to geometry contain treatments of problems about regular pentagons and decagons, and the applications to arithmetic contain treatments of systems of quadratic Diophantine equations in several unknowns. The other book of Abū Kāmil that is included in the book under review is \textit{the Book of Fowls}, a book concerned with word problems that result in systems of two linear Diophantine equations in three unknowns, such as the system \[ x+y+z=100,~2x+\frac{1}{3} y + \frac{1}{2} z = 100. \] Such equations describe the problem of how to buy, at a total cost of 100 dirhams, 100 fowls consisting of ducks that cost two dirhams each, pigeons that cost one third a dirham each, and hens that cost one half a dirham each. The book consists of an introduction together with two parts I and II. The introduction is 31-page long and contains a biography of Abū Kāmil and a list of his mathematical works. It also discusses the great and direct influence of his \textit{Algebra} on successors like al-Karaji (or al-Karkhi), al-Samaw'al, and Leonardo of Pisa (better known as Fibonacci), and illustrates this by listing 53 problems treated by al-Karaji and 90 problems treated by Fibonacci, together with corresponding problems in Abū Kāmil's \textit{Algebra} that are identical or almost identical. It also talks about the different translations (and possible variants or editions) of this book. Part I of the book is a modern version (in French) of the complete contents of Abū Kāmil's two books, with illustrations, explanations, and commentary. Part II contains the original Arabic text of both books together with facing French translations. It is also appendixed by an extract from al-Samaw'al's \textit{al-Bāhir in Algebra}, in which the afore-mentioned problem of ducks, pigeons, and hens is treated. It ends with a section of notes and commentaries, and an Arabic-French dictionary-like section. The book is very beautifully written and typeset, and it is very comfortable to read. It is a great addition to the literature on Islamic and Medieval mathematics.