148 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



of his most distinguished contemporaries, and th; 

 in a way which makes him appear as an honoun 

 master in the science of algebra, then lately intr< 

 duced from the Moorish schools. This improvemei 

 and testimony were both of them due to a certai 

 Leonardo of the Bonacci family of Pisa, who wa 

 perhaps, the first to bring the new method of ca 

 culation to the knowledge of his countrymen. H 

 father had been overseer of the customs at Bougii 

 in Barbary, 1 on behalf of the Pisan merchants wh 

 traded thither. Observing the superior way < 

 reckoning used by the Moors in that country, h 

 sent home for his son that the boy might be traine 

 in this admirable way of counting. Leonardo pei 

 fected his art in after years by travel and study i 

 Egypt, Syria, and Greece, as well as in Sicily an 

 Provence. The ripe fruit of this knowledge sa^ 

 the light in 1222, when he published for th 

 first time his famous Liber Abbaci. It consisted c 

 fifteen chapters, in which the author declared th 

 secret of the Indian numerals as well as the funda 

 mental processes of algebra. 2 



This brief account of one who must ever hold aj 

 honourable place in the history of mathematica 

 science may enable us to value at its true wort] 

 the praise which Leonardo bestowed on Michae 

 Scot. It seems that the first edition of the Lib 

 Abbaci was not entirely satisfactory. Scot wrote 

 a letter to the author which possibly contained 



1 This city was founded in 1067-68 by En-Nacer ben Alennas ibj 

 Haminad, who made it his capital. 



2 MSS. of the Liber Abbaci are to be found in Florence, Bibl. Nai 

 i. 2616, iii. 25, and xi. 21. The first of these has been exactly reprinted 

 by Boncompagni at Rome, 1857. Other MSS. are in the BoncompaH 

 library, see Narducci's Catalogue, Nos. 176 and 255. The most im- 

 portant work on the whole subject is ' Delia Vita e delle Opere di 

 Leonardo Pisano,' by Boncompagni, Home, 1852. 



