"The Talkhīṣ aʿmāl al-ḥisāb is also one of the oldest works to employ symbols for fractions in a systematic manner, especially for algebraic unknowns and equations...Other original aspects of this book are that, 1) for the first time in a chapter on algebra, an equation with zero as the second member was used and 2) an entire chapter was devoted to the construction of magic squares" (Ahmed Djebbar, Ibn Qunfudh, Encyclopaedia of Islam Three Online).