Mathematics in Medieval Islam 

Mathematics in medieval Islam or sometimes referred to as Islamic

mathematics is a term used in the history of mathematics that refers to
the mathematics developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600,
in the part of the world where Islam was the dominant religion. Islamic
science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate (also
known as the Islamic Empire) established across the Middle East,
Central Asia, North Africa, Sicily, the Iberian Peninsula, and in parts of
France and India in the 8th century. The center of Islamic mathematics
was located in Persia (including eastern part of present-day Iraq) , but at
its greatest extent stretched from North Africa and Spain in the west and
to India in the east.[1]

While most scientists in this period were Muslims and wrote in Arabic, a
great portion and many of the best known of the contributors were of
Persian origin[2][3] but there were also Berbers, Arabs, Moors, Turks, and
sometimes different religions (Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sabians,
Zoroastrians, irreligious).[4]. Arabic was the dominant language—much
like Latin in Medieval Europe, Arabic was used as the chosen written
language of most scholars throughout the Islamic world

Origins and influences

The first century of the Islamic 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.[6] 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.[6] Many of these Greek works were translated by Thabit
ibn Qurra (826-901), who translated books written by Euclid,
Archimedes, Apollonius, Ptolemy, and Eutocius.[7] 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.

Greek, Indian and Babylonian all played an important role in the

development of early Islamic mathematics. The works of
mathematicians such as Euclid, Apollonius, Archimedes, Diophantus,
Aryabhata and Brahmagupta were all acquired by the Islamic world and
incorporated into their mathematics. Perhaps the most influential
mathematical contribution from India was the decimal place-value Indo-
Arabic numeral system, also known as the Hindu numerals.[8] The
Persian historian al-Biruni (c. 1050) in his book Tariq al-Hind states that
the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun had an embassy in India from which was
brought a book to Baghdad that was translated into Arabic as Sindhind.
It is generally assumed that Sindhind is none other than Brahmagupta's
Brahmasphuta-siddhanta.[9] The earliest translations from Sanskrit
inspired several astronomical and astrological Arabic works, now mostly
lost, some of which were even composed in verse.[10]

Indian influences were later 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 soon became mostly eclipsed by or merged with the
"Graeco-Islamic" science founded on Hellenistic treatises.[10] Another
likely reason for the declining Indian influence in later periods was due
to Sindh achieving independence from the Caliphate, thus limiting
access to Indian works. Nevertheless, Indian methods continued to play
an important role in algebra, arithmetic and trigonometry.[11]

Besides the Greek and Indian tradition, a third tradition which had a
significant influence on mathematics in medieval Islam was the
"mathematics of practitioners", which included the applied mathematics
of "surveyors, builders, artisans, in geometric design, tax and treasury
officials, and some merchants." This applied form of mathematics
transcended ethnic divisions and was a common heritage of the lands
incorporated into the Islamic world.[8] This tradition also includes the
religious observances specific to Islam, which served as a major impetus
for the development of mathematics as well as astronomy.[12]

Islam and mathematics

A major impetus for the flowering of mathematics as well as astronomy

in medieval Islam came from religious observances, which presented an
assortment of problems in astronomy and mathematics, specifically in
trigonometry, spherical geometry,[12] algebra[13] and arithmetic.[14]

The Islamic law of inheritance served as an impetus behind the

development of algebra (derived from the Arabic al-jabr) by
Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and other medieval Islamic
mathematicians. Al-Khwārizmī's Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala devoted
a chapter on the solution to the Islamic law of inheritance using algebra.
He formulated the rules of inheritance as linear equations, hence his
knowledge of quadratic equations were not required.[13] Later
mathematicians who specialized in the Islamic law of inheritance
included Al-Hassār, who developed the modern symbolic mathematical
notation for fractions in the 12th century,[14] and Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī
al-Qalasādī, who developed an algebraic notation which took "the first
steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism" in the 15th
century.[15]

In order to observe holy days on the Islamic calendar in which timings

were determined by phases of the moon, astronomers initially used
Ptolemy's method to calculate the place of the moon and stars. The
method Ptolemy used to solve spherical triangles, however, was a
clumsy one devised late in the first century by Menelaus of Alexandria.
It involved setting up two intersecting right triangles; by applying
Menelaus' theorem it was possible to solve one of the six sides, but only
if the other five sides were known. To tell the time from the sun's
altitude, for instance, repeated applications of Menelaus' theorem were
required. For medieval Islamic astronomers, there was an obvious
challenge to find a simpler trigonometric method.[12]

Regarding the issue of moon sighting, Islamic months do not begin at

the astronomical new moon, defined as the time when the moon has the
same celestial longitude as the sun and is therefore invisible; instead
they begin when the thin crescent moon is first sighted in the western
evening sky.[12] The Qur'an says: "They ask you about the waxing and
waning phases of the crescent moons, say they are to mark fixed times
for mankind and Hajj."[16][17] This led Muslims to find the phases of the
moon in the sky, and their efforts led to new mathematical
calculations.[18]

Predicting just when the crescent moon would become visible is a

special challenge to Islamic mathematical astronomers. Although
Ptolemy's theory of the complex lunar motion was tolerably accurate
near the time of the new moon, it specified the moon's path only with
respect to the ecliptic. To predict the first visibility of the moon, it was
necessary to describe its motion with respect to the horizon, and this
problem demands fairly sophisticated spherical geometry. Finding the
direction of Mecca and the time of Salah are the reasons which led to
Muslims developing spherical geometry. Solving any of these problems
involves finding the unknown sides or angles of a triangle on the
celestial sphere from the known sides and angles. A way of finding the
time of day, for example, is to construct a triangle whose vertices are the
zenith, the north celestial pole, and the sun's position. The observer must
know the altitude of the sun and that of the pole; the former can be
observed, and the latter is equal to the observer's latitude. The time is
then given by the angle at the intersection of the meridian (the arc
through the zenith and the pole) and the sun's hour circle (the arc
through the sun and the pole).[12][19]

Muslims are also expected to pray towards the Kaaba in Mecca and
orient their mosques in that direction. Thus they need to determine the
direction of Mecca (Qibla) from a given location.[20][21] Another problem
is the time of Salah. Muslims need to determine from celestial bodies the
proper times for the prayers at sunrise, at midday, in the afternoon, at
sunset, and in the evening.[12][19]

Importance

J. J. O'Conner and E. F. Robertson wrote in the MacTutor History of

Mathematics archive:

"Recent research paints a new picture of the debt that we owe to Islamic
mathematics. Certainly many of the ideas which were previously
thought to have been brilliant new conceptions due to European
mathematicians of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries are now known to
have been developed by Arabic/Islamic mathematicians around four
centuries earlier. In many respects, the mathematics studied today is far
closer in style to that of Islamic mathematics than to that of Greek
mathematics."

R. Rashed wrote in The development of Arabic mathematics: between

arithmetic and algebra:

"Al-Khwarizmi's successors undertook a systematic application of

arithmetic to algebra, algebra to arithmetic, both to trigonometry,
algebra to the Euclidean theory of numbers, algebra to geometry, and
geometry to algebra. This was how the creation of polynomial algebra,
combinatorial analysis, numerical analysis, the numerical solution of
equations, the new elementary theory of numbers, and the geometric
construction of equations arose."
Biographies

Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar (786 – 833)

Al-Ḥajjāj translated Euclid's Elements into Arabic.
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (c. 780 Khwarezm/Baghdad – c.
850 Baghdad)
Al-Khwārizmī was a Persian 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 equations.
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.
Al- Abbās ibn Sa id al-Jawharī (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 propositions and an attempted proof of the parallel
postulate.
Abd al-Hamīd ibn Turk (fl. 830 Baghdad)
Ibn Turk wrote a work on algebra of which only a chapter on the
solution of quadratic equations has survived.
Ya qūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (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.
Banū Mūsā (c. 800 Baghdad – 873+ Baghdad)
 The Banū Mūsā were 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, Ja far
Muḥammad (c. 800) specialised in geometry and astronomy. He
wrote a critical revision on Apollonius' Conics called Premises of
the book of conics. Aḥmad (c. 805) specialised in mechanics and
wrote a work on pneumatic devices called On mechanics. The
youngest, al-Ḥasan (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)
Muḥammad ibn Jābir al-Ḥarrānī al-Battānī (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)
Abū Sahl al-Qūhī (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-1000)
Al-Khujandi
Abū al-Wafā al-Būzjānī (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-998)
Ibn Sahl (Iraq-Iran, ca. 940-1000)
Al-Sijzi (Iran, ca. 940-1000)
Labana of Cordoba (Spain, ca. 10th century)
One of the few Islamic female mathematicians known by name,
and the secretary of the Umayyad Caliph al-Hakem II. She was
well-versed in the exact sciences, and could solve the most
complex geometrical and algebraic problems known in her time.[22]
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)
Abū al-Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (September 15, 973 in Kath, Khwarezm –
December 13, 1048 in Gazna)
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
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)
Ibn Yaḥyā al-Maghribī al-Samaw al (ca. 1130, Baghdad – c. 1180,
Maragha)
Al-Hassār (ca. 1100s, Maghreb)
Developed the modern mathematical notation for fractions and the
digits he uses for the ghubar numerals also cloesly resembles
modern Western Arabic numerals.
Ibn al-Yāsamīn (ca. 1100s, Maghreb)
The son of a Berber father and black African mother, he was the
first to develop a mathematical notation for algebra since the time
of Brahmagupta.
Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (Iran, ca. 1150-1215)
Ibn Mun`im (Maghreb, ca. 1210)
al-Marrakushi (Morocco, 13th century)
Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (18 February 1201 in Tus, Khorasan – 26 June 1274
in Kadhimain near Baghdad)
Muḥyi al-Dīn al-Maghribī (c. 1220 Spain – c. 1283 Maragha)
Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (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)
Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī (1364 Bursa – 1436 Samarkand)
Jamshīd al-Kāshī (Iran, Uzbekistan, ca. 1420)
Ulugh Beg (Iran, Uzbekistan, 1394-1449)
Al-Umawi
Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī (Maghreb, 1412-1482)
Last major medieval Arab mathematician. Pioneer of symbolic
algebra.

Algebra

A page from the Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah by Al-Khwarizmi.

The term algebra is derived from the Arabic term al-jabr in the title of
Al-Khwarizmi's Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah. He originally used the term al-
jabr to describe the method of "reduction" and "balancing", referring to
the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that
is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation.[23]

There are three theories about the origins of Islamic 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.[24]

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] until the work of Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi in the 13th
century and Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī in the 15th century.[15]

There were four conceptual stages in the development of algebra, three

of which either began in, or were significantly advanced in, the Islamic
world. These four stages were as follows:[25]

• Geometric stage, where the concepts of algebra are largely

geometric. This dates back to the Babylonians and continued with
the Greeks, and was revived by Omar Khayyam.
• Static equation-solving stage, where the objective is to find
numbers satisfying certain relationships. The move away from
geometric algebra dates back to Diophantus and Brahmagupta, but
algebra didn't decisively move to the static equation-solving stage
until Al-Khwarizmi's Al-Jabr.
• Dynamic function stage, where motion is an underlying idea. The
idea of a function began emerging with Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, but
algebra didn't decisively move to the dynamic function stage until
Gottfried Leibniz.
• Abstract stage, where mathematical structure plays a central role.
Abstract algebra is largely a product of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Static equation-solving algebra

Al-Khwarizmi and Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah

The Muslim[26] Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-

Khwārizmī (c. 780-850) 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.[6] 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.[27] The book
also introduced the fundamental method of "reduction" and "balancing",
referring to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an
equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the
equation. This is the operation which Al-Khwarizmi originally described
as al-jabr.[23]

Al-Jabr is divided into six chapters, each of which deals with a different
type of formula. The first chapter of Al-Jabr deals with equations whose
squares equal its roots (ax² = bx), the second chapter deals with squares
equal to number (ax² = c), the third chapter deals with roots equal to a
number (bx = c), the fourth chapter deals with squares and roots equal a
number (ax² + bx = c), the fifth chapter deals with squares and number
equal roots (ax² + c = bx), and the sixth and final chapter deals with
roots and number equal to squares (bx + c = ax²).[28]

J. J. O'Conner and E. F. Robertson wrote in the MacTutor History of

Mathematics archive:

"Perhaps one of the most significant advances made by Arabic

mathematics began at this time with the work of al-Khwarizmi, namely
the beginnings of algebra. It is important to understand just how
significant this new idea was. It was a revolutionary move away from
the Greek concept of mathematics which was essentially geometry.
Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers,
irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes, etc., to all be treated as
"algebraic objects". It gave mathematics a whole new development path
so much broader in concept to that which had existed before, and
provided a vehicle for future development of the subject. Another
important aspect of the introduction of algebraic ideas was that it
allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not
happened before."

The Hellenistic mathematician Diophantus was traditionally known as

"the father of algebra"[29][30] but debate now exists as to whether or not
Al-Khwarizmi deserves this title instead.[29] Those who support
Diophantus point to the fact that the algebra found in Al-Jabr is more
elementary than the algebra found in Arithmetica and that Arithmetica is
syncopated while Al-Jabr is fully rhetorical.[29] Those who support Al-
Khwarizmi point to the fact that he gave an exhaustive explanation for
the algebraic solution of quadratic equations with positive roots,[31] was
the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake,
whereas Diophantus was primarily concerned with the theory of
numbers.[32] R. Rashed and Angela Armstrong write:

"Al-Khwarizmi's text can be seen to be distinct not only from the

Babylonian tablets, but also from Diophantus' Arithmetica. It no longer
concerns a series of problems to be resolved, but an exposition which
starts with primitive terms in which the combinations must give all
possible prototypes for equations, which henceforward explicitly
constitute the true object of study. On the other hand, the idea of an
equation for its own sake appears from the beginning and, one could say,
in a generic manner, insofar as it does not simply emerge in the course
of solving a problem, but is specifically called on to define an infinite
class of problems."[33]

Logical Necessities in Mixed Equations

'Abd al-Hamīd ibn Turk (fl. 830) authored a manuscript entitled Logical
Necessities in Mixed Equations, which is very similar to al-Khwarzimi's
Al-Jabr and was published at around the same time as, or even possibly
earlier than, Al-Jabr.[34] The manuscript gives the exact same geometric
demonstration as is found in Al-Jabr, and in one case the same example
as found in Al-Jabr, and even goes beyond Al-Jabr by giving a
geometric proof that if the determinant is negative then the quadratic
equation has no solution.[34] The similarity between these two works has
led some historians to conclude that Islamic algebra may have been well
developed by the time of al-Khwarizmi and 'Abd al-Hamid.[34]

Abū Kāmil and al-Karkhi

Arabic mathematicians were also the first to treat irrational numbers as
algebraic objects.[35] The Egyptian mathematician Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn
Aslam (c. 850-930) was the first to accept irrational numbers (often in
the form of a square root, cube root or fourth root) as solutions to
quadratic equations or as coefficients in an equation.[36] He was also the
first to solve three non-linear simultaneous equations with three
unknown variables.[37]

Al-Karkhi (953-1029), also known as Al-Karaji, was the successor of

Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī (940-998) and he was the first to discover the
solution to equations of the form ax2n + bxn = c.[38] Al-Karkhi only
considered positive roots.[38] Al-Karkhi is also regarded as the first
person to free algebra from geometrical operations and replace them
with the type of arithmetic operations which are at the core of algebra
today. His work on algebra and polynomials, gave the rules for
arithmetic operations to manipulate polynomials. The historian of
mathematics F. Woepcke, in Extrait du Fakhri, traité d'Algèbre par
Abou Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhacan Alkarkhi (Paris, 1853), praised Al-
Karaji for being "the first who introduced the theory of algebraic
calculus". Stemming from this, Al-Karaji investigated binomial
coefficients and Pascal's triangle.[39]

Arabic manuscript from the 12th century depicting the Brethren of

Purity.

Linear algebra
In linear algebra and recreational mathematics, magic squares were
known to Arab mathematicians, possibly as early as the 7th century,
when the Arabs got into contact with Indian or South Asian culture, and
learned Indian mathematics and astronomy, including other aspects of
combinatorial mathematics. It has also been suggested that the idea came
via China. The first magic squares of order 5 and 6 appear in an
encyclopedia from Baghdad circa 983 AD, the Rasa'il Ihkwan al-Safa
(Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity); simpler magic squares were
known to several earlier Arab mathematicians.[40]

The Arab mathematician Ahmad al-Buni, who worked on magic squares

around 1200 AD, attributed mystical properties to them, although no
details of these supposed properties are known. There are also references
to the use of magic squares in astrological calculations, a practice that
seems to have originated with the Arabs.[40]

Geometric algebra

Omar Khayyám (c. 1050-1123) wrote a book on Algebra that went

beyond Al-Jabr to include equations of the third degree.[41] Omar
Khayyám provided both arithmetic and geometric solutions for quadratic
equations, but he only gave geometric solutions for general cubic
equations since he mistakenly believed that arithmetic solutions were
impossible.[41] His method of solving cubic equations by using
intersecting conics had been used by Menaechmus, Archimedes, and
Alhazen, but Omar Khayyám generalized the method to cover all cubic
equations with positive roots.[41] He only considered positive roots and
he did not go past the third degree.[41] He also saw a strong relationship
between Geometry and Algebra.[41]

Dynamic functional algebra

In the 12th century, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī found algebraic and numerical
solutions to cubic equations and was the first to discover the derivative
of cubic polynomials.[42] His Treatise on Equations dealt with equations
up to the third degree. The treatise does not follow Al-Karaji's school of
algebra, but instead represents "an essential contribution to another
algebra which aimed to study curves by means of equations, thus
inaugurating the beginning of algebraic geometry." The treatise dealt
with 25 types of equations, including twelve types of linear equations
and quadratic equations, eight types of cubic equations with positive
solutions, and five types of cubic equations which may not have positive
solutions.[43] He understood the importance of the discriminant of the
cubic equation and used an early version of Cardano's formula[44] to find
algebraic solutions to certain types of cubic equations.[42]

Sharaf al-Din also developed the concept of a function. In his analysis of

the equation for example, he begins by changing the equation's form to .
He then states that the question of whether the equation has a solution
depends on whether or not the “function” on the left side reaches the
value . To determine this, he finds a maximum value for the function. He
proves that the maximum value occurs when , which gives the functional
value . Sharaf al-Din then states that if this value is less than , there are
no positive solutions; if it is equal to , then there is one solution at ; and
if it is greater than , then there are two solutions, one between and and
one between and . This was the earliest form of dynamic functional
algebra.[45]

Numerical analysis

In numerical analysis, the essence of Viète's method was known to

Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī in the 12th century, and it is possible that the
algebraic tradition of Sharaf al-Dīn, as well as his predecessor Omar
Khayyám and successor Jamshīd al-Kāshī, was known to 16th century
European algebraists, or whom François Viète was the most
important.[46]

A method algebraically equivalent to Newton's method was also known

to Sharaf al-Dīn. In the 15th century, his successor al-Kashi later used a
form of Newton's method to numerically solve to find roots of . In
western Europe, a similar method was later described by Henry Biggs in
his Trigonometria Britannica, published in 1633.[47]

Symbolic algebra

Al-Hassār, a mathematician from the Maghreb (North Africa)

specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence during the 12th century,
developed the modern symbolic mathematical notation for fractions,
where the numerator and denominator are separated by a horizontal bar.
This same fractional notation appeared soon after in the work of
Fibonacci in the 13th century.[14]

Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī (1412-1482) was the last major
medieval Arab algebraist, who improved on the algebraic notation
earlier used in the Maghreb by Ibn al-Banna in the 13th century[15] and
by Ibn al-Yāsamīn in the 12th century.[14] In contrast to the syncopated
notations of their predecessors, Diophantus and Brahmagupta, which
lacked symbols for mathematical operations,[48] al-Qalasadi's algebraic
notation was the first to have symbols for these functions and was thus
"the first steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism." He
represented mathematical symbols using characters from the Arabic
alphabet.[15]

The symbol x now commonly denotes an unknown variable. Even

though any letter can be used, x is the most common choice. This usage
can be traced back to the Arabic word šay' ‫“ = ءيش‬thing,” used in
Arabic algebra texts such as the Al-Jabr, and was taken into Old Spanish
with the pronunciation “šei,” which was written xei, and was soon
habitually abbreviated to x. (The Spanish pronunciation of “x” has
changed since). Some sources say that this x is an abbreviation of Latin
causa, which was a translation of Arabic ‫ءيش‬. This started the habit of
using letters to represent quantities in algebra. In mathematics, an
“italicized x” () is often used to avoid potential confusion with the
multiplication symbol.

Arithmetic
Arabic numerals

See also: Arabic numerals

The Indian numeral system came to be known to both the Persian

mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, whose book On the Calculation with
Hindu Numerals written circa 825, and the Arab mathematician Al-
Kindi, who wrote four volumes, On the Use of the Indian Numerals
(Ketab fi Isti'mal al-'Adad al-Hindi) circa 830, are principally
responsible for the diffusion of the Indian system of numeration in the
Middle-East and the West [3]. In the 10th century, Middle-Eastern
mathematicians extended the decimal numeral system to include
fractions using decimal point notation, as recorded in a treatise by Syrian
mathematician Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi in 952-953.

In the Arab world—until early modern times—the Arabic numeral

system was often only used by mathematicians. Muslim astronomers
mostly used the Babylonian numeral system, and merchants mostly used
the Abjad numerals. A distinctive "Western Arabic" variant of the
symbols begins to emerge in ca. the 10th century in the Maghreb and Al-
Andalus, called the ghubar ("sand-table" or "dust-table") numerals,
which is the direct ancestor to the modern Western Arabic numerals now
used throughout the world.[49]

The first mentions of the numerals in the West are found in the Codex
Vigilanus of 976 [4]. From the 980s, Gerbert of Aurillac (later, Pope
Silvester II) began to spread knowledge of the numerals in Europe.
Gerbert studied in Barcelona in his youth, and he is known to have
requested mathematical treatises concerning the astrolabe from Lupitus
of Barcelona after he had returned to France.

Al-Khwārizmī, the Persian scientist, wrote in 825 a treatise On the

Calculation with Hindu Numerals, which was translated into Latin in the
12th century, as Algoritmi de numero Indorum, where "Algoritmi", the
translator's rendition of the author's name gave rise to the word
algorithm (Latin algorithmus) with a meaning "calculation method".
Al-Hassār, a mathematician from the Maghreb (North Africa)
specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence during the 12th century,
developed the modern symbolic mathematical notation for fractions,
where the numerator and denominator are separated by a horizontal bar.
The "dust ciphers he used are also nearly identical to the digits used in
the current Western Arabic numerals. These same digits and fractional
notation appear soon after in the work of Fibonacci in the 13th
century.[14]

Decimal fractions

In discussing the origins of decimal fractions, Dirk Jan Struik states that
(p. 7):[50]

"The introduction of decimal fractions as a common computational

practice can be dated back to the Flemish pamphelet De Thiende,
published at Leyden in 1585, together with a French translation, La
Disme, by the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620), then
settled in the Northern Netherlands. It is true that decimal fractions were
used by the Chinese many centuries before Stevin and that the Persian
astronomer Al-Kāshī used both decimal and sexagesimal fractions with
great ease in his Key to arithmetic (Samarkand, early fifteenth
century).[51]"

While the Persian mathematician Jamshīd al-Kāshī claimed to have

discovered decimal fractions himself in the 15th century, J. Lennart
Berggrenn notes that he was mistaken, as decimal fractions were first
used five centuries before him by the Baghdadi mathematician Abu'l-
Hasan al-Uqlidisi as early as the 10th century.[37]

Real numbers

The Middle Ages saw the acceptance of zero, negative, integral and
fractional numbers, first by Indian mathematicians and Chinese
mathematicians, and then by Arabic mathematicians, who were also the
first to treat irrational numbers as algebraic objects,[52] which was made
possible by the development of algebra. Arabic mathematicians merged
the concepts of "number" and "magnitude" into a more general idea of
real numbers, and they criticized Euclid's idea of ratios, developed the
theory of composite ratios, and extended the concept of number to ratios
of continuous magnitude.[53] In his commentary on Book 10 of the
Elements, the Persian mathematician Al-Mahani (d. 874/884) examined
and classified quadratic irrationals and cubic irrationals. He provided
definitions for rational and irrational magnitudes, which he treated as
irrational numbers. He dealt with them freely but explains them in
geometric terms as follows:[54]

"It will be a rational (magnitude) when we, for instance, say 10, 12, 3%,
6%, etc., because its value is pronounced and expressed quantitatively.
What is not rational is irrational and it is impossible to pronounce and
represent its value quantitatively. For example: the roots of numbers
such as 10, 15, 20 which are not squares, the sides of numbers which are
not cubes etc."

In contrast to Euclid's concept of magnitudes as lines, Al-Mahani

considered integers and fractions as rational magnitudes, and square
roots and cube roots as irrational magnitudes. He also introduced an
arithmetical approach to the concept of irrationality, as he attributes the
following to irrational magnitudes:[54]

"their sums or differences, or results of their addition to a rational

magnitude, or results of subtracting a magnitude of this kind from an
irrational one, or of a rational magnitude from it."

The Egyptian mathematician Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam (c. 850–930)
was the first to accept irrational numbers as solutions to quadratic
equations or as coefficients in an equation, often in the form of square
roots, cube roots and fourth roots.[36] In the 10th century, the Iraqi
mathematician Al-Hashimi provided general proofs (rather than
geometric demonstrations) for irrational numbers, as he considered
multiplication, division, and other arithmetical functions.[55] Abū Ja'far
al-Khāzin (900-971) provides a definition of rational and irrational
magnitudes, stating that if a definite quantity is:[56]

"contained in a certain given magnitude once or many times, then this

(given) magnitude corresponds to a rational number. . . . Each time when
this (latter) magnitude comprises a half, or a third, or a quarter of the
given magnitude (of the unit), or, compared with (the unit), comprises
three, five, or three fifths, it is a rational magnitude. And, in general,
each magnitude that corresponds to this magnitude (i.e. to the unit), as
one number to another, is rational. If, however, a magnitude cannot be
represented as a multiple, a part (l/n), or parts (m/n) of a given
magnitude, it is irrational, i.e. it cannot be expressed other than by
means of roots."

Many of these concepts were eventually accepted by European

mathematicians some time after the Latin translations of the 12th
century. Al-Hassār, an Arabic mathematician from the Maghreb (North
Africa) specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence during the 12th
century, developed the modern symbolic mathematical notation for
fractions, where the numerator and denominator are separated by a
horizontal bar. This same fractional notation appears soon after in the
work of Fibonacci in the 13th century.[14]

Number theory

In number theory, Ibn al-Haytham solved problems involving

congruences using what is now called Wilson's theorem. In his
Opuscula, Ibn al-Haytham considers the solution of a system of
congruences, and gives two general methods of solution. His first
method, the canonical method, involved Wilson's theorem, while his
second method involved a version of the Chinese remainder theorem.
Another contribution to number theory is his work on perfect numbers.
In his Analysis and synthesis, Ibn al-Haytham was the first to discover
that every even perfect number is of the form 2n−1(2n − 1) where 2n − 1 is
prime, but he was not able to prove this result successfully (Euler later
proved it in the 18th century).[57]
In the early 14th century, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī made a number of
important contributions to number theory. His most impressive work in
number theory is on amicable numbers. In Tadhkira al-ahbab fi bayan
al-tahabb ("Memorandum for friends on the proof of amicability")
introduced a major new approach to a whole area of number theory,
introducing ideas concerning factorization and combinatorial methods.
In fact, al-Farisi's approach is based on the unique factorization of an
integer into powers of prime numbers.

Geometry

An engraving by Albrecht Dürer featuring Mashallah, from the title page

of the De scientia motus orbis (Latin version with engraving, 1504). As
in many medieval illustrations, the compass here is an icon of religion as
well as science, in reference to God as the architect of creation.

The successors of Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (born 780)

undertook a systematic application of arithmetic to algebra, algebra to
arithmetic, both to trigonometry, algebra to the Euclidean theory of
numbers, algebra to geometry, and geometry to algebra. This was how
the creation of polynomial algebra, combinatorial analysis, numerical
analysis, the numerical solution of equations, the new elementary theory
of numbers, and the geometric construction of equations arose.
Al-Mahani (born 820) conceived the idea of reducing geometrical
problems such as duplicating the cube to problems in algebra. Al-Karaji
(born 953) completely freed algebra from geometrical operations and
replaced them with the arithmetical type of operations which are at the
core of algebra today.

Early Islamic geometry

Thabit ibn Qurra (known as Thebit in Latin) (born 836) contributed to a

number of areas in mathematics, where he played an important role in
preparing the way for such important mathematical discoveries as the
extension of the concept of number to (positive) real numbers, integral
calculus, theorems in spherical trigonometry, analytic geometry, and
non-Euclidean geometry. An important geometrical aspect of Thabit's
work was his book on the composition of ratios. In this book, Thabit
deals with arithmetical operations applied to ratios of geometrical
quantities. The Greeks had dealt with geometric quantities but had not
thought of them in the same way as numbers to which the usual rules of
arithmetic could be applied. By introducing arithmetical operations on
quantities previously regarded as geometric and non-numerical, Thabit
started a trend which led eventually to the generalization of the number
concept. Another important contribution Thabit made to geometry was
his generalization of the Pythagorean theorem, which he extended from
special right triangles to all right triangles in general, along with a
general proof.[58]

In some respects, Thabit is critical of the ideas of Plato and Aristotle,

particularly regarding motion. It would seem that here his ideas are
based on an acceptance of using arguments concerning motion in his
geometrical arguments.

Ibrahim ibn Sinan ibn Thabit (born 908), who introduced a method of
integration more general than that of Archimedes, and al-Quhi (born
940) were leading figures in a revival and continuation of Greek higher
geometry in the Islamic world. These mathematicians, and in particular
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), studied optics and investigated the optical
properties of mirrors made from conic sections (see Mathematical
physics).

Astronomy, time-keeping and geography provided other motivations for

geometrical and trigonometrical research. For example Ibrahim ibn
Sinan and his grandfather Thabit ibn Qurra both studied curves required
in the construction of sundials. Abu'l-Wafa and Abu Nasr Mansur
pioneered spherical geometry in order to solve difficult problems in
Islamic astronomy. For example, to predict the first visibility of the
moon, it was necessary to describe its motion with respect to the
horizon, and this problem demands fairly sophisticated spherical
geometry. Finding the direction of Mecca (Qibla) and the time for Salah
prayers and Ramadan are what led to Muslims developing spherical
geometry.[12][19]

Algebraic and analytic geometry

Illustration by Arthur Szyk for the 1940 edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar
Khayyam.

In the early 11th century, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) was able to solve by
purely algebraic means certain cubic equations, and then to interpret the
results geometrically.[59] Subsequently, Omar Khayyám discovered the
general method of solving cubic equations by intersecting a parabola
with a circle.[60]

Omar Khayyám (1048-1122) was a Persian mathematician, as well as a

poet. Along with his fame as a poet, he was also famous during his
lifetime as a mathematician, well known for inventing the general
method of solving cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a
circle. In addition he discovered the binomial expansion, and authored
criticisms of Euclid's theories of parallels which made their way to
England, where they contributed to the eventual development of non-
Euclidean geometry. Omar Khayyam also combined the use of
trigonometry and approximation theory to provide methods of solving
algebraic equations by geometrical means. His work marked the
beginnings of algebraic geometry[61][62] and analytic geometry.[63]

In a paper written by Khayyam before his famous algebra text Treatise

on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, he considers the problem:
Find a point on a quadrant of a circle in such manner that when a
normal is dropped from the point to one of the bounding radii, the ratio
of the normal's length to that of the radius equals the ratio of the
segments determined by the foot of the normal. Khayyam shows that this
problem is equivalent to solving a second problem: Find a right triangle
having the property that the hypotenuse equals the sum of one leg plus
the altitude on the hypotenuse. This problem in turn led Khayyam to
solve the cubic equation x3 + 200x = 20x2 + 2000 and he found a
positive root of this cubic by considering the intersection of a
rectangular hyperbola and a circle. An approximate numerical solution
was then found by interpolation in trigonometric tables. Perhaps even
more remarkable is the fact that Khayyam states that the solution of this
cubic requires the use of conic sections and that it cannot be solved by
compass and straightedge, a result which would not be proved for
another 750 years.

His Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra contained a

complete classification of cubic equations with geometric solutions
found by means of intersecting conic sections. In fact Khayyam gives an
interesting historical account in which he claims that the Greeks had left
nothing on the theory of cubic equations. Indeed, as Khayyam writes,
the contributions by earlier writers such as al-Mahani and al-Khazin
were to translate geometric problems into algebraic equations
(something which was essentially impossible before the work of
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Ḵwārizmī). However, Khayyam himself seems
to have been the first to conceive a general theory of cubic equations.

Omar Khayyám saw a strong relationship between geometry and

algebra, and was moving in the right direction when he helped to close
the gap between numerical and geometric algebra[41] with his geometric
solution of the general cubic equations,[63] but the decisive step in
analytic geometry came later with René Descartes.[41]

Persian mathematician Sharafeddin Tusi (born 1135) did not follow the
general development that came through al-Karaji's school of algebra but
rather followed Khayyam's application of algebra to geometry. He wrote
a treatise on cubic equations, entitled Treatise on Equations, which
represents an essential contribution to another algebra which aimed to
study curves by means of equations, thus inaugurating the study of
algebraic geometry.[43]

Non-Euclidean geometry
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī commemorated on an Iranian stamp upon the 700th
anniversary of his death.

In the early 11th century, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) made the first
attempt at proving the Euclidean parallel postulate, the fifth postulate in
Euclid's Elements, using a proof by contradiction,[64] where he
introduced the concept of motion and transformation into geometry.[65]
He formulated the Lambert quadrilateral, which Boris Abramovich
Rozenfeld names the "Ibn al-Haytham–Lambert quadrilateral",[66] and
his attempted proof also shows similarities to Playfair's axiom.[67]

In the late 11th century, Omar Khayyám made the first attempt at
formulating a non-Euclidean postulate as an alternative to the Euclidean
parallel postulate,[68] and he was the first to consider the cases of
elliptical geometry and hyperbolic geometry, though he excluded the
latter.[69]

In Commentaries on the difficult postulates of Euclid's book Khayyam

made a contribution to non-Euclidean geometry, although this was not
his intention. In trying to prove the parallel postulate he accidentally
proved properties of figures in non-Euclidean geometries. Khayyam also
gave important results on ratios in this book, extending Euclid's work to
include the multiplication of ratios. The importance of Khayyam's
contribution is that he examined both Euclid's definition of equality of
ratios (which was that first proposed by Eudoxus) and the definition of
equality of ratios as proposed by earlier Islamic mathematicians such as
al-Mahani which was based on continued fractions. Khayyam proved
that the two definitions are equivalent. He also posed the question of
whether a ratio can be regarded as a number but leaves the question
unanswered.

The Khayyam-Saccheri quadrilateral was first considered by Omar

Khayyam in the late 11th century in Book I of Explanations of the
Difficulties in the Postulates of Euclid.[66] Unlike many commentators on
Euclid before and after him (including of course Saccheri), Khayyam
was not trying to prove the parallel postulate as such but to derive it
from an equivalent postulate he formulated from "the principles of the
Philosopher" (Aristotle):

Two convergent straight lines intersect and it is impossible for two

convergent straight lines to diverge in the direction in which they
converge.[70]

Khayyam then considered the three cases right, obtuse, and acute that
the summit angles of a Saccheri quadrilateral can take and after proving
a number of theorems about them, he (correctly) refuted the obtuse and
acute cases based on his postulate and hence derived the classic
postulate of Euclid. It wasn't until 600 years later that Giordano Vitale
made an advance on the understanding of this quadrilateral in his book
Euclide restituo (1680, 1686), when he used it to prove that if three
points are equidistant on the base AB and the summit CD, then AB and
CD are everywhere equidistant. Saccheri himself based the whole of his
long, heroic and ultimately flawed proof of the parallel postulate around
the quadrilateral and its three cases, proving many theorems about its
properties along the way.

In 1250, Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, in his Al-risala al-shafiya'an al-shakk fi'l-

khutut al-mutawaziya (Discussion Which Removes Doubt about Parallel
Lines), wrote detailed critiques of the Euclidean parallel postulate and on
Omar Khayyám's attempted proof a century earlier. Nasir al-Din
attempted to derive a proof by contradiction of the parallel postulate.[71]
He was one of the first to consider the cases of elliptical geometry and
hyperbolic geometry, though he ruled out both of them.[69]

His son, Sadr al-Din (sometimes known as "Pseudo-Tusi"), wrote a book

on the subject in 1298, based on al-Tusi's later thoughts, which
presented one of the earliest arguments for a non-Euclidean hypothesis
equivalent to the parallel postulate.[71][72] Sadr al-Din's work was
published in Rome in 1594 and was studied by European geometers.
This work marked the starting point for Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri's
work on the subject, and eventually the development of modern non-
Euclidean geometry.[71] A proof from Sadr al-Din's work was quoted by
John Wallis and Saccheri in the 17th and 18th centuries. They both
derived their proofs of the parallel postulate from Sadr al-Din's work,
while Saccheri also derived his Saccheri quadrilateral from Sadr al-Din,
who himself based it on his father's work.[73]

The theorems of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Omar Khayyam and Nasir

al-Din al-Tusi on quadrilaterals, including the Lambert quadrilateral and
Saccheri quadrilateral, were the first theorems on elliptical geometry and
hyperbolic geometry, and along with their alternative postulates, such as
Playfair's axiom, these works marked the beginning of non-Euclidean
geometry and had a considerable influence on its development among
later European geometers, including Witelo, Levi ben Gerson, Alfonso,
John Wallis, and Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri.[74]

Trigonometry

The early Indian works on trigonometry were translated and expanded in

the Muslim world by Arab and Persian mathematicians. They enunciated
a large number of theorems which freed the subject of trigonometry
from dependence upon the complete quadrilateral, as was the case in
Hellenistic mathematics due to the application of Menelaus' theorem.
According to E. S. Kennedy, it was after this development in Islamic
mathematics that "the first real trigonometry emerged, in the sense that
only then did the object of study become the spherical or plane triangle,
its sides and angles."[75]

In the early 9th century, Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (c. 780-
850) produced tables for the trigonometric functions of sines and cosine,
and the first tables for tangents. He was also an early pioneer in
spherical trigonometry. In 830, Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi produced
the first tables of cotangents as well as tangents.[76][77] Muhammad ibn
Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī (853-929) discovered the reciprocal functions
of secant and cosecant, and produced the first table of cosecants, which
he referred to as a "table of shadows" (in reference to the shadow of a
gnomon), for each degree from 1° to 90°.[77] He also formulated a
number of important trigonometrical relationships such as:
By the 10th century, in the work of Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī (959-998),
Muslim mathematicians were using all six trigonometric functions, and
had sine tables in 0.25° increments, to 8 decimal places of accuracy, as
well as tables of tangent values. Abū al-Wafā' also developed the
following trigonometric formula:

Abū al-Wafā also established the angle addition identities, e.g. sin (a +
b), and discovered the law of sines for spherical trigonometry:[76]

Also in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the Egyptian astronomer
Ibn Yunus performed many careful trigonometric calculations and
demonstrated the following formula:

Al-Jayyani (989–1079) of al-Andalus wrote The book of unknown arcs

of a sphere, which is considered "the first treatise on spherical
trigonometry" in its modern form,[78] although spherical trigonometry in
its ancient Hellenistic form was dealt with by earlier mathematicians
such as Menelaus of Alexandria, who developed Menelaus' theorem to
deal with spherical problems.[79][80] However, E. S. Kennedy points out
that while it was possible in pre-lslamic mathematics to compute the
magnitudes of a spherical figure, in principle, by use of the table of
chords and Menelaus' theorem, the application of the theorem to
spherical problems was very difficult in practice.[81] Al-Jayyani's work
on spherical trigonometry "contains formulae for right-handed triangles,
the general law of sines, and the solution of a spherical triangle by
means of the polar triangle." This treatise later had a "strong influence
on European mathematics", and his "definition of ratios as numbers" and
"method of solving a spherical triangle when all sides are unknown" are
likely to have influenced Regiomontanus.[78]

The method of triangulation, which was unknown in the Greco-Roman

world, was also first developed by Muslim mathematicians, who applied
it to practical uses such as surveying[82] and Islamic geography, as
described by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī in the early 11th century.[83] In the
late 11th century, Omar Khayyám (1048-1131) solved cubic equations
using approximate numerical solutions found by interpolation in
trigonometric tables. All of these earlier works on trigonometry treated it
mainly as an adjunct to astronomy; the first treatment as a subject in its
own right was by Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī in the 13th century. He also
developed spherical trigonometry into its present form,[77] and listed the
six distinct cases of a right-angled triangle in spherical trigonometry. In
his On the Sector Figure, he also stated the law of sines for plane and
spherical triangles, discovered the law of tangents for spherical triangles,
and provided proofs for these laws.[37]

Jamshīd al-Kāshī (1393-1449) provided the first explicit statement of the

law of cosines in a form suitable for triangulation. In France, the law of
cosines is still referred to as the theorem of Al-Kashi. He also gives
trigonometric tables of values of the sine function to four sexagesimal
digits (equivalent to 8 decimal places) for each 1° of argument with
differences to be added for each 1/60 of 1°.[84] In one of his numerical
approximations of π, he correctly computed 2π to 9 sexagesimal
digits.[85] In order to determine sin 1°, al-Kashi discovered the following
triple-angle formula often attributed to François Viète in the 16th
century:[86]

In French, the law of cosines is named Théorème d'Al-Kashi (Theorem

of Al-Kashi), as al-Kashi was the first to provide an explicit statement of
the law of cosines in a form suitable for triangulation. His colleague
Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) gave accurate tables of sines and tangents
correct to 8 decimal places.

Taqi al-Din (1526-1585) contributed to trigonometry in his Sidrat al-

Muntaha, in which he was the first mathematician to compute a highly
accurate numeric value for sin 1°. He discusses the values given by his
predecessors, explaining how Ptolemy (ca. 150) used an approximate
method to obtain his value of sin 1° and how Abū al-Wafā, Ibn Yunus
(ca. 1000), al-Kashi, Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī (1337-1412), Ulugh Beg and
Mirim Chelebi improved on the value. Taqi al-Din then solves the
problem to obtain the value of sin 1° to a precision of 8 sexagesimals
(the equivalent of 14 decimals):[87]
Calculus

Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), author of the Book of Optics.

Integral calculus

Around 1000 AD, Al-Karaji, using mathematical induction, found a

proof for the sum of integral cubes.[88] The historian of mathematics, F.
Woepcke,[89] praised Al-Karaji for being "the first who introduced the
theory of algebraic calculus." Shortly afterwards, Ibn al-Haytham
(known as Alhazen in the West), an Iraqi mathematician working in
Egypt, was the first mathematician to derive the formula for the sum of
the fourth powers, and using an early proof by mathematical induction,
he developed a method for determining the general formula for the sum
of any integral powers. He used his result on sums of integral powers to
perform an integration, in order to find the volume of a paraboloid. He
was thus able to find the integrals for polynomials up to the fourth
degree, and came close to finding a general formula for the integrals of
any polynomials. This was fundamental to the development of
infinitesimal and integral calculus. His results were repeated by the
Moroccan mathematicians Abu-l-Hasan ibn Haydur (d. 1413) and Abu
Abdallah ibn Ghazi (1437-1514), by Jamshīd al-Kāshī (c. 1380-1429) in
The Calculator's Key, and by the Indian mathematicians of the Kerala
school of astronomy and mathematics in the 15th-16th centuries.[71]

Differential calculus

In the 12th century, the Persian mathematician Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī was
the first to discover the derivative of cubic polynomials, an important
result in differential calculus.[42] His Treatise on Equations developed
concepts related to differential calculus, such as the derivative function
and the maxima and minima of curves, in order to solve cubic equations
which may not have positive solutions. For example, in order to solve
the equation , al-Tusi finds the maximum point of the curve . He uses the
derivative of the function to find that the maximum point occurs at , and
then finds the maximum value for y at by substituting back into . He
finds that the equation has a solution if , and al-Tusi thus deduces that
the equation has a positive root if , where D is the discriminant of the
equation.[43]

Applied mathematics

Geometric art and architecture

Main articles: Arabesque, Girih tiles, Islamic art, and Islamic

architecture

Geometric artwork in the form of the Arabesque was not widely used in
the Middle East or Mediterranean Basin until the golden age of Islam
came into full bloom, when Arabesque became a common feature of
Islamic art. Euclidean geometry as expounded on by Al-Abbās ibn Said
al-Jawharī (ca. 800-860) in his Commentary on Euclid's Elements, the
trigonometry of Aryabhata and Brahmagupta as elaborated on by
Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (ca. 780-850), and the development
of spherical geometry[12] by Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī (940–998) and
spherical trigonometry by Al-Jayyani (989-1079)[78] for determining the
Qibla and times of Salah and Ramadan,[12] all served as an impetus for
the art form that was to become the Arabesque.

Recent discoveries have shown that geometrical quasicrystal patterns

were first employed in the girih tiles found in medieval Islamic
architecture dating back over five centuries ago. In 2007, Professor Peter
Lu of Harvard University and Professor Paul Steinhardt of Princeton
University published a paper in the journal Science suggesting that girih
tilings possessed properties consistent with self-similar fractal
quasicrystalline tilings such as the Penrose tilings, predating them by
five centuries.[90][91]

Mathematical astronomy

An impetus behind mathematical astronomy came from Islamic religious

observances, which presented a host of problems in mathematical
astronomy, particularly in spherical geometry. In solving these religious
problems the Islamic scholars went far beyond the Greek mathematical
methods.[12] For example, predicting just when the crescent moon would
become visible is a special challenge to Islamic mathematical
astronomers. Although Ptolemy's theory of the complex lunar motion
was tolerably accurate near the time of the new moon, it specified the
moon's path only with respect to the ecliptic. To predict the first
visibility of the moon, it was necessary to describe its motion with
respect to the horizon, and this problem demands fairly sophisticated
spherical geometry. Finding the direction of Mecca and the time of
Salah are the reasons which led to Muslims developing spherical
geometry. Solving any of these problems involves finding the unknown
sides or angles of a triangle on the celestial sphere from the known sides
and angles. A way of finding the time of day, for example, is to
construct a triangle whose vertices are the zenith, the north celestial
pole, and the sun's position. The observer must know the altitude of the
sun and that of the pole; the former can be observed, and the latter is
equal to the observer's latitude. The time is then given by the angle at the
intersection of the meridian (the arc through the zenith and the pole) and
the sun's hour circle (the arc through the sun and the pole).[12][19]

The Zij treatises were astronomical books that tabulated the parameters
used for astronomical calculations of the positions of the Sun, Moon,
stars, and planets. Their principal contributions to mathematical
astronomy reflected improved trigonometrical, computational and
observational techniques.[92][93] The Zij books were extensive, and
typically included materials on chronology, geographical latitudes and
longitudes, star tables, trigonometrical functions, functions in spherical
astronomy, the equation of time, planetary motions, computation of
eclipses, tables for first visibility of the lunar crescent, astronomical
and/or astrological computations, and instructions for astronomical
calculations using epicyclic geocentric models.[94] Some zījes go beyond
this traditional content to explain or prove the theory or report the
observations from which the tables were computed.[95]
In observational astronomy, Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī's Zij
al-Sindh (830) contains trigonometric tables for the movements of the
sun, the moon and the five planets known at the time.[96] Al-Farghani's A
compendium of the science of stars (850) corrected Ptolemy's Almagest
and gave revised values for the obliquity of the ecliptic, the precessional
movement of the apogees of the sun and the moon, and the
circumference of the earth.[97] Muhammad ibn Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī
(853-929) discovered that the direction of the Sun's eccentric was
changing,[98] and studied the times of the new moon, lengths for the solar
year and sidereal year, prediction of eclipses, and the phenomenon of
parallax.[99] Around the same time, Yahya Ibn Abi Mansour wrote the
Al-Zij al-Mumtahan, in which he completely revised the Almagest
values.[100] In the 10th century, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Azophi) carried
out observations on the stars and described their positions, magnitudes,
brightness, and colour and drawings for each constellation in his Book of
Fixed Stars (964). Ibn Yunus observed more than 10,000 entries for the
sun's position for many years using a large astrolabe with a diameter of
nearly 1.4 meters. His observations on eclipses were still used centuries
later in Simon Newcomb's investigations on the motion of the moon,
while his other observations inspired Laplace's Obliquity of the Ecliptic
and Inequalities of Jupiter and Saturn's.[101]

In the late 10th century, Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi accurately computed

the axial tilt to be 23°32'19" (23.53°),[102] which was a significant
improvement over the Greek and Indian estimates of 23°51'20" (23.86°)
and 24°,[103] and still very close to the modern measurement of 23°26'
(23.44°). In 1006, the Egyptian astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan observed SN
1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, and left a detailed
description of the temporary star. He says that the object was two to
three times as large as the disc of Venus and about one-quarter the
brightness of the Moon, and that the star was low on the southern
horizon. In 1031, al-Biruni's Canon Mas’udicus introduced the
mathematical technique of analysing the acceleration of the planets, and
first states that the motions of the solar apogee and the precession are not
identical. Al-Biruni also discovered that the distance between the Earth
and the Sun is larger than Ptolemy's estimate, on the basis that Ptolemy
disregarded the annual solar eclipses.[104][105]

During the "Maragha Revolution" of the 13th and 14th centuries,

Muslim astronomers realized that astronomy should aim to describe the
behavior of physical bodies in mathematical language, and should not
remain a mathematical hypothesis, which would only save the
phenomena. The Maragha astronomers also realized that the Aristotelian
view of motion in the universe being only circular or linear was not true,
as the Tusi-couple showed that linear motion could also be produced by
applying circular motions only.[106] Unlike the ancient Greek and
Hellenistic astronomers who were not concerned with the coherence
between the mathematical and physical principles of a planetary theory,
Islamic astronomers insisted on the need to match the mathematics with
the real world surrounding them,[107] which gradually evolved from a
reality based on Aristotelian physics to one based on an empirical and
mathematical physics after the work of Ibn al-Shatir. The Maragha
Revolution was thus characterized by a shift away from the
philosophical foundations of Aristotelian cosmology and Ptolemaic
astronomy and towards a greater emphasis on the empirical observation
and mathematization of astronomy and of nature in general, as
exemplified in the works of Ibn al-Shatir, al-Qushji, al-Birjandi and al-
Khafri.[108][109][110] In particular, Ibn al-Shatir's geocentric model was
mathematically identical to the later heliocentric Copernical model.[111]

Mathematical geography and geodesy

Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī was a polymath who is considered a pioneer in
mathematical geography and geodesy.

The Muslim scholars, who held to the spherical Earth theory, used it in
an impeccably Islamic manner, to calculate the distance and direction
from any given point on the earth to Mecca. This determined the Qibla,
or Muslim direction of prayer. Muslim mathematicians developed
spherical trigonometry which was used in these calculations.[112]

Around 830, Caliph al-Ma'mun commissioned a group of astronomers to

measure the distance from Tadmur (Palmyra) to al-Raqqah, in modern
Syria. They found the cities to be separated by one degree of latitude and
the distance between them to be 66 2/3 miles and thus calculated the
Earth's circumference to be 24,000 miles.[113] Another estimate given by
Al-Farghānī was 56 2/3 Arabic miles per degree, which corresponds to
111.8 km per degree and a circumference of 40,248 km, very close to
the currently modern values of 111.3 km per degree and 40,068 km
circumference, respectively.[114]

In mathematical geography, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, around 1025, was

the first to describe a polar equi-azimuthal equidistant projection of the
celestial sphere.[115] He was also regarded as the most skilled when it
came to mapping cities and measuring the distances between them,
which he did for many cities in the Middle East and western Indian
subcontinent. He often combined astronomical readings and
mathematical equations, in order to develop methods of pin-pointing
locations by recording degrees of latitude and longitude. He also
developed similar techniques when it came to measuring the heights of
mountains, depths of valleys, and expanse of the horizon, in The
Chronology of the Ancient Nations. He also discussed human geography
and the planetary habitability of the Earth. He hypothesized that roughly
a quarter of the Earth's surface is habitable by humans, and also argued
that the shores of Asia and Europe were "separated by a vast sea, too
dark and dense to navigate and too risky to try" in reference to the
Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.[116]

Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī is considered the father of geodesy for his

important contributions to the field,[117][118] along with his significant
contributions to geography and geology. At the age of 17, al-Biruni
calculated the latitude of Kath, Khwarazm, using the maximum altitude
of the Sun. Al-Biruni also solved a complex geodesic equation in order
to accurately compute the Earth's circumference, which were close to
modern values of the Earth's circumference.[104][119] His estimate of
6,339.9 km for the Earth radius was only 16.8 km less than the modern
value of 6,356.7 km. In contrast to his predecessors who measured the
Earth's circumference by sighting the Sun simultaneously from two
different locations, al-Biruni developed a new method of using
trigonometric calculations based on the angle between a plain and
mountain top which yielded more accurate measurements of the Earth's
circumference and made it possible for it to be measured by a single
person from a single location.[120]

Mathematical physics

Ibn al-Haytham's work on geometric optics, particularly catoptrics, in

"Book V" of the Book of Optics (1021) contains the important
mathematical problem known as "Alhazen's problem" (Alhazen is the
Latinized name of Ibn al-Haytham). It comprises drawing lines from two
points in the plane of a circle meeting at a point on the circumference
and making equal angles with the normal at that point. This leads to an
equation of the fourth degree. This eventually led Ibn al-Haytham to
derive the earliest formula for the sum of the fourth powers, and using
an early proof by mathematical induction, he developed a method for
determining the general formula for the sum of any integral powers,
which was fundamental to the development of infinitesimal and integral
calculus.[71] Ibn al-Haytham eventually solved "Alhazen's problem"
using conic sections and a geometric proof, but Alhazen's problem
remained influential in Europe, when later mathematicians such as
Christiaan Huygens, James Gregory, Guillaume de l'Hôpital, Isaac
Barrow, and many others, attempted to find an algebraic solution to the
problem, using various methods, including analytic methods of
geometry and derivation by complex numbers.[67] Mathematicians were
not able to find an algebraic solution to the problem until the end of the
20th century.[121]

Ibn al-Haytham also produced tables of corresponding angles of

incidence and refraction of light passing from one medium to another
show how closely he had approached discovering the law of constancy
of ratio of sines, later attributed to Snell. He also correctly accounted for
twilight being due to atmospheric refraction, estimating the Sun's
depression to be 19 degrees below the horizon during the
commencement of the phenomenon in the mornings or at its termination
in the evenings.[122]

Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973-1048), and later al-Khazini (fl. 1115-1130),

were the first to apply experimental scientific methods to the statics and
dynamics fields of mechanics, particularly for determining specific
weights, such as those based on the theory of balances and weighing.
Muslim physicists applied the mathematical theories of ratios and
infinitesimal techniques, and introduced algebraic and fine calculation
techniques into the field of statics.[123]

Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ma'udh, who lived in Al-Andalus

during the second half of the 11th century, wrote a work on optics later
translated into Latin as Liber de crepisculis, which was mistakenly
attributed to Alhazen. This was a "short work containing an estimation
of the angle of depression of the sun at the beginning of the morning
twilight and at the end of the evening twilight, and an attempt to
calculate on the basis of this and other data the height of the atmospheric
moisture responsible for the refraction of the sun's rays." Through his
experiments, he obtained the accurate value of 18°, which comes close
to the modern value.[124]

In 1574, Taqi al-Din estimated that the stars are millions of kilometres
away from the Earth and that the speed of light is constant, that if light
had come from the eye, it would take too long for light "to travel to the
star and come back to the eye. But this is not the case, since we see the
star as soon as we open our eyes. Therefore the light must emerge from
the object not from the eyes."[125][125]

[edit] Other fields

[edit] Cryptography

The first page of al-Kindi's manuscript On Deciphering Cryptographic

Messages, containing the first descriptions of cryptanalysis and
frequency analysis.

In the 9th century, al-Kindi was a pioneer in cryptanalysis and

cryptology. He gave the first known recorded explanation of
cryptanalysis in A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages.
In particular, he is credited with developing the frequency analysis
method whereby variations in the frequency of the occurrence of letters
could be analyzed and exploited to break ciphers (i.e. crypanalysis by
frequency analysis).[126] This was detailed in a text recently rediscovered
in the Ottoman archives in Istanbul, A Manuscript on Deciphering
Cryptographic Messages, which also covers methods of cryptanalysis,
encipherments, cryptanalysis of certain encipherments, and statistical
analysis of letters and letter combinations in Arabic.[127] Al-Kindi also
had knowledge of polyalphabetic ciphers centuries before Leon Battista
Alberti. Al-Kindi's book also introduced the classification of ciphers,
developed Arabic phonetics and syntax, and described the use of several
statistical techniques for cryptoanalysis. This book apparently antedates
other cryptology references by several centuries, and it also predates
writings on probability and statistics by Pascal and Fermat by nearly
eight centuries.[128]

Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (1355-1418) wrote the Subh al-a 'sha, a 14-

volume encyclopedia which included a section on cryptology. This
information was attributed to Taj ad-Din Ali ibn ad-Duraihim ben
Muhammad ath-Tha 'alibi al-Mausili who lived from 1312 to 1361, but
whose writings on cryptology have been lost. The list of ciphers in this
work included both substitution and transposition, and for the first time,
a cipher with multiple substitutions for each plaintext letter. Also traced
to Ibn al-Duraihim is an exposition on and worked example of
cryptanalysis, including the use of tables of letter frequencies and sets of
letters which can not occur together in one word.

Mathematical induction

The first known proof by mathematical induction was introduced in the

al-Fakhri written by Al-Karaji around 1000 AD, who used it to prove
arithmetic sequences such as the binomial theorem, Pascal's triangle, and
the sum formula for integral cubes.[129][130] His proof was the first to
make use of the two basic components of an inductive proof, "namely
the truth of the statement for n = 1 (1 = 13) and the deriving of the truth
for n = k from that of n = k - 1."[131]

Shortly afterwards, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) used the inductive method

to prove the sum of fourth powers, and by extension, the sum of any
integral powers, which was an important result in integral calculus. He
only stated it for particular integers, but his proof for those integers was
by induction and generalizable.[132][133]

Ibn Yahyā al-Maghribī al-Samaw'al came closest to a modern proof by

mathematical induction in pre-modern times, which he used to extend
the proof of the binomial theorem and Pascal's triangle previously given
by al-Karaji. Al-Samaw'al's inductive argument was only a short step
from the full inductive proof of the general binomial theorem.[134]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_mathematics.