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Islamic Science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic Caliph ate (also known as the Arab Empire or Islamic Empire ) established across the Middle East , Central Asia , North Africa , Sicily , the Iberian Peninsula , and in parts of France and Pakistan (known as India at the time) in the 8th century. Although most Islamic texts on mathematics were written in Arabic, they were not all written by Arab s, since—much like Latin in Medieval Europe —Arabic was used as the written language of scholars throughout the Islamic World at the time. In particular, a large number of Islamic scientists in many disciplines, including mathematics, were Persians. The Persistence of Cultures in World History: Persia/Iran by Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman J. J. O'Conner and E. F. Robertson wrote in the '' MacTutor History Of Mathematics Archive '': R. Rashed wrote in ''The development of Arabic mathematics: between arithmetic and algebra'': ORIGINS AND INFLUENCES The first century of the Islam ic Arab Empire saw almost no scientific or mathematical achievements since the Arabs, with their newly conquered empire, had not yet gained any intellectual drive and research in other parts of the world had faded. In the second half of the eighth century Islam had a cultural awakening, and research in mathematics and the sciences increased.1 The Muslim Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun (809-833) is said to have had a dream where Aristotle appeared to him, and as a consequence al-Mamun ordered that Arabic translation be made of as many Greek works as possible, including Ptolemy's ''Almagest'' and Euclid's ''Elements''. Greek works would be given to the Muslims by the Byzantine Empire in exchange for treaties, as the two empires held an uneasy peace. Many of these Greek works were translated by Thabit Ibn Qurra (826-901), who translated books written by Euclid , Archimedes , Apollonius , Ptolemy , and Eutocius.2 Historians are in debt to many Islamic translators, for it is through their work that many ancient Greek texts have survived only through Arabic translations. But Indian influences were soon overwhelmed by Greek mathematical and astronomical texts. It is not clear why this occurred but it may have been due to the greater availability of Greek texts in the region, the larger number of practitioners of Greek mathematics in the region, or because Islamic mathematicians favored the deductive exposition of the Greeks over the elliptic Sanskrit verse of the Indians. Regardless of the reason, Indian mathematics became eclipsed by or merged with the "Graeco-Islamic" science founded on Hellenistic treatises.5 BIOGRAPHIES ; (786 – 833) :Al-Ḥajjāj translated Euclid 's '' Elements '' into Arabic. ; (c. 780 Khwarezm / Baghdad – c. 850 Baghdad) :Al-Khwārizmī was a Mathematician , Astronomer , Astrologer and Geographer . He worked most of his life as a Scholar in the House Of Wisdom in Baghdad . His ''Algebra'' was the first book on the systematic solution of Linear and Quadratic Equation s. Latin translations of his ''Arithmetic'', on the Indian Numerals , introduced the Decimal Positional Number System to the Western World in the 12th century. He revised and updated Ptolemy 's ''Geography'' as well as writing several works on astronomy and astrology. ; (c. 800 Baghdad? – c. 860 Baghdad?) :Al-Jawharī was a mathematician who worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. His most important work was his ''Commentary on Euclid's Elements '' which contained nearly 50 additional Proposition s and an attempted Proof of the Parallel Postulate . ; (fl. 830 Baghdad) :Ibn Turk wrote a work on Algebra of which only a chapter on the solution of Quadratic Equations has survied. ; (c. 801 Kufah – 873 Baghdad) :Al-Kindī (or Alkindus) was a Philosopher and Scientist who worked as the House of Wisdom in Baghdad where he wrote commentaries on many Greek works. His contributions to mathematics include many works on Arithmetic and Geometry . ; Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (808 Al-Hirah – 873 Baghdad) : Hunayn (or Johannitus) was a translator who worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Translated many Greek works including those by Plato , Aristotle , Galen , Hippocrates , and the Neoplatonists . ; (c. 800 Baghdad – 873+ Baghdad) :The Banū Mūsā where three brothers who worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Their most famous mathematical treatise is ''The Book of the Measurement of Plane and Spherical Figures'', which considered similar problems as Archimedes did in his ''On the measurement of the circle'' and ''On the sphere and the cylinder''. They contributed individually as well. The eldest, (c. 800) specialised in geometry and astronomy. He wrote a critical revision on Apollonius ' ''Conics'' called ''Premises of the book of conics''. (c. 805) specialised in mechanics and wrote a work on Pneumatic devices called ''On mechanics''. The youngest, (c. 810) specialised in geometry and wrote a work on the Ellipse called ''The elongated circular figure''. ; Al-Mahani ; Ahmed Ibn Yusuf ; Thabit Ibn Qurra (Syria-Iraq, 835-901) ; Al-Hashimi (Iraq? ca. 850-900) ; (c. 853 Harran – 929 Qasr Al-Jiss near Samarra ) ; Abu Kamil (Egypt? ca. 900) ; Sinan Ibn Tabit (ca. 880 - 943) ; Al-Nayrizi ; Ibrahim Ibn Sinan (Iraq, 909-946) ; Al-Khazin (Iraq-Iran, ca. 920-980) ; Al-Karabisi (Iraq? 10th century?) ; Ikhwan Al-Safa' (Iraq, first half of 10th century) :The Ikhwan al-Safa' ("brethren of purity") were a (mystical?) group in the city of Basra in Irak. The group authored a series of more than 50 letters on science, philosophy and theology. The first letter is on arithmetic and number theory, the second letter on geometry. ; Al-Uqlidisi (Iraq-Iran, 10th century) ; Al-Saghani (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-1000) ; (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-1000) ; Al-Khujandi ; (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-998) ; Ibn Sahl (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-1000) ; Al-Sijzi (Iran, ca. 940-1000) ; Ibn Yunus (Egypt, ca. 950-1010) ; Abu Nasr Ibn `Iraq (Iraq-Iran, ca. 950-1030) ; Kushyar Ibn Labban (Iran, ca. 960-1010) ; Al-Karaji (Iran, ca. 970-1030) ; Ibn Al-Haytham (Iraq-Egypt, ca. 965-1040) ; ( September 15 973 in Kath, Khwarezm – December 13 1048 in Gazna ) ; Ibn Sina ; Al-Baghdadi ; Al-Nasawi ; Al-Jayyani (Spain, ca. 1030-1090) ; Ibn Al-Zarqalluh (Azarquiel, al-Zarqali) (Spain, ca. 1030-1090) ; Al-Mu'taman Ibn Hud (Spain, ca. 1080) ; Al-Khayyam (Iran, ca. 1050-1130) ; (c. 1130 Baghdad – c. 1180 Maragha ) ; (Iran, ca. 1150-1215) ; Ibn Mun`im (Maghreb, ca. 1210) ; Al-Marrakushi (Morocco, 13th century) ; ( 18 February 1201 in Tus , Khorasan – 26 June 1274 in Kadhimain near Baghdad ) ; (c. 1220 Spain – c. 1283 Maragha ) ; (c. 1250 Samarqand – c. 1310) ; Ibn Baso (Spain, ca. 1250-1320) ; Ibn Al-Banna' (Maghreb, ca. 1300) ; Kamal Al-Din Al-Farisi (Iran, ca. 1300) ; Al-Khalili (Syria, ca. 1350-1400) ; Ibn Al-Shatir (1306-1375) ; (1364 Bursa – 1436 Samarkand) ; (Iran, Uzbekistan, ca. 1420) ; Ulugh Beg (Iran, Uzbekistan, 1394-1449) ; Al-Umawi ; Al-Qalasadi (Maghreb, 15th century) FIELDS Algebra ''.]] There are three theories about the origins of Arabic Algebra. The first emphasizes Hindu influence, the second emphasizes Mesopotamian or Persian-Syriac influence and the third emphasizes Greek influence. Many scholars believe that it is the result of a combination of all three sources.6 Throughout their time in power, before the fall of Islamic civilization, the Arabs used a fully rhetorical algebra, where sometimes even the numbers were spelled out in words. The Arabs would eventually replace spelled out numbers (eg. twenty-two) with Arabic Numerals (eg. 22), but the Arabs never adopted or developed a syncopated or symbolic algebra.7 The Muslim8 Persian mathematician was a faculty member of the "House of Wisdom" (Bait al-hikma) in Baghdad, which was established by Al-Mamun. Al-Khwarizmi, who died around 850 A.D., wrote more than half a dozen mathematical and astronomical works; some of which were based on the Indian ''Sindhind''.9 One of al-Khwarizmi's most famous books is entitled ''Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah'' or '' The Compendious Book On Calculation By Completion And Balancing '', and it gives an exhaustive account of solving polynomials up to the second degree.10 |
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