Arabic Mathematics

and
Other Sciences
Group 2 (Sisters)

• Siti Norjehan bt Yahaya 0919338

• Noorhazirah Hatikah bt Mardzuki 0919134
• Nooratikah bt Mohamed Puzi 0921222
• Nor Fadzila bt Adenan 0718572
• Siti Nor Baiyah bt Ab Ghani 0918936
Al-GEBRAS
 Al-Khwarizmi 
-born about 790 in Baghdad (now in Iraq) and died
about 850.
-Father of Algebras
-Converted or changed Babylonian and Hindu
numerals into a workable system.
gave the name to his math as "al-jabr" which we
know as "algebra“
 Example:

• 2x = 14
x = ? 
• 3x + 6 = 18
x = ? 
• x2 + xy = 10
x=5
y = ? 
GEOMETRY
*developed by the Greeks, and the Muslims translated
such great Greek thinkers as Euclid.
*Muslims used their understanding of geometry into
designing wheels of all kinds, especially waterwheels
and other systems for drawing up water, in improving
farming equipment, and in designing devices of war
such as catapults and crossbows.
*put to work in art, with beautiful geometric designs.
*The Egyptians were very advanced in geometry and
could build great pyramids
Arabic Numerals
 ARABIC NUMERALS
Brahmi numerals in India in the 1st
century :
The Arabic numerals
or Hindu-Arabic
numerals are the ten The eleventh century :
digits.
The Indian numerals
were adopted by the -The numerals from al-Sizji's
Persian
mathematicians in
-The numerals from al-Biruni's
India, and passed on to
the Arabs further west.
The story of Arabic -al-Banna al-Marrakushi's form of the
numerals. numerals
 A HISTORY OF ZERO

The meaning of the

term of zero.
How to use the zero?
Mathematics.
Science.
TRIGONOMETRY
 TRIGONOMETRY

 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

 Real name is Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi.
 Born: 18 Feb 1201 in Tus, Khorasan (now Iran)
 Died: 26 June 1274 in Kadhimain (near Baghdad now in Iraq)
 Al-Tusi, a Muslim, is the "father of trigonometry".
 WHAT IS TRIGONOMETRY

 Trigonometry (from Greek

trigonon"triangle" +
metron"measure") is a branch of
mathematics that studies triangle,
particularly right triangles.
Trigonometry deals with
relationships between the sides
and the angles of triangles and
with the trigonometric functions,
which describe those relationships,
as well as describing angles in
general and the motion of waves
such as sound and light waves.
 WHAT IS TRIGONOMETRY

 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a versatile genius, played no mean part in the

development of trigonometry.
 His first treatment of trigonometry as a subject in its own right in the 13th
century.
 In 1247, al-Tusi wrote Tahrir al- Majisti ( Commentary on the Almagest ) in
which he introduce trigonometical techniques to calculate table of sines.
 His works on trigonometry mark the culmination of the advancement on the
subject.
 He is the author of the Kitab Shakl al-Qita in which trigonometry has been
treated independently as astronomy.
 One of al-Tusi most important mathematical contributions was the creation of
trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right rather than as just a
tool for astronomical applications.
Other
Sciences
:

Arabic
Medicin
e
• From the fall of Rome until the European
Renaissance of the 15th century, the Islamic
world was the center of medical knowledge.

• Greek medical texts were translated into Arabic

and augmented with sophisticated
pharmaceutical information.

• Many herbs and spices like nutmeg, cloves, and

mace were not originally valued as cooking
ingredients, but as medicines, and many Arabic
medicinal terms - drug, syrup, alcohol, alkali, etc.
- remain in western languages.
• The Arabs improved many Greek and Roman
medical, especially ocular, techniques.

• They developed first-class civilian hospitals and

used them not only to care for the blind, crippled,
and chronically ill, but to also train medical
personnel.

• Facilities  medical and surgical wards, a surgical

room, a pharmacy, a clinic, a library, a lecture
room, a chapel, and a mosque.

• Some hospitals employed musicians and singers to

comfort the patients with a type of musical
therapy.
• Famous Muslim physicians  Razi, Avicenna,
al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Qasim, etc.

• They developed drug therapy and medicinal

drugs for the treatment of specific symptoms
and diseases.

• Chemotherapeutical drugs were first

developed in the Muslim world. Muslim
physicians used a variety of specific
substances to destroy microbes.
• Abu al-Qasim (Al-Tasrif) , invented medications
called Ghawali and Lafayfe for epilepsy and seizures.

•  invented nasal sprays and hand cream, and

developed effective mouth washes.

•  invented Muthallaathat for the relief and

treatment of common colds, which was prepared
from camphor, musk and honey, similar to Vicks
Vapour Rub, a modern topical cream.
ARABIC ASTRONOMY
Islam: The Need for
Astronomy
• religious
requirements:
- predict beginning of
month
- altitude of Sun
(hours of prayer)
- establish office of
muwaqqit
(mosque timekeeper)
Astronomers
respected position in
society
The Astrolabe: Universal
Astro-calculator
• invented by Greeks,
but perfected by Arabs

• to measure altitude
(height) of stars (or Sun)

• predict position of
stars/Sun at given time
Arab astronomers
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131,

He compiled many astronomical tables and

performed a reformation of the calendar
which was more accurate than the Julian and
came close to the Gregorian.

•An amazing feat was his calculation of the

year to be 365.24219858156 days long,
which is accurate to the sixth decimal place!
 al-Khujandi
 In the late 10th century, a huge observatory was
built near Tehran, Iran.
 He built a large sextant inside the observatory
 the first astronomer to be capable of measuring
to an accuracy of arc seconds.
 He observed a series of meridian transits of the
Sun, which allowed him to calculate the obliquity
of the ecliptic, also known as the tilt of the Earth's
axis relative to the Sun.
 As we know today, the Earth's tilt is approximately
23o34', and al-Khujandi measured it as being
23o32'19". Using this information, he also
compiled a list of latitudes and longitudes of major
cities.
 Western science owes a large debt to
Islamic and Arab scientists, whose
contributions range from the Arabic names
of stars which we still use today to the
mathematical and astronomical treatises
used by Europeans to enter our modern
world of science.
