Omar

Khayyam
By: Hana Almalki
Grade: 6
 Introduction
► Omar Khayyam was an Islamic scholar who
was a poet as well as a mathematician. He
was born in the city of Nishapur, Khorasan,
Iran between 1038 and 1048 and died there
between 1123 and 1124
► He compiled astronomical tables and
contributed to calendar reform and discovered
a geometrical method of solving cubic
equations by intersecting a parabola with a
circle.
► Omar Khayyam is best known for his poetry. In
1859, English poet, Edward FitzGerald,
translated around 600 poems written by
Khayyam and published them as a collection
called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
 Early Life

► Khayyam's father was Ebrahim

Khayyami, a wealthy
physician, his mother's name
remains unknown. He spent
his childhood in the town of
Balhi, studying there under the
tutelage of Sheik Muhammad
Mansuri, one of the most
well-known scholars of the
time. Later, Khayyám studied
under Imam Mowaffak of
Nishapur, who was considered
one of the greatest teachers of
the region.
Education
► Khayyam was also taught by the Zoroastrian mathematician,
Abu Hassan Bahmanyar bin Marzban. After studying science,
philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.
► Two other exceptional students began studying under the same
teacher at about the same time. One of these was
Nizam-ul-Mulk, who went on to become the Vizier to two rulers
of the Persian Empire. The other was Hassan-i-Sabah, who
went on to become the leader of the Hashshashin.
► These three students, who became friends, each pledged to one
another that whichever of them received fortune, he would share
it equally with the other two. After Nizam-ul-Mulk became Vizier,
Hassan-i-Sabah and Omar Khayyám each went to him and
asked to share in his good fortune.
Family

► Khayyam's father was Ebrahim Khayyami, a

wealthy physician, his mother's name
remains unknown. His origins are still
unclear, but some authors have argued that
Omar's father earned a living by being a
merchant and making tents, as his last
name means tent-maker.
► Not enough is known about Khayyam's life
but he is believed to had a wife called Jihan
and two children; a boy and a girl.
 Career
► Omar Khayyam was a Persian astronomer,
writer, poet and mathematician renowned
in Iran for his scientific achievements.
► Omar Khayyam was an Islamic scholar
who was a poet as well as a
mathematician. He then returned to
Neyshābūr where he taught and served
the court as an astrologer. Philosophy,
jurisprudence, history, mathematics,
medicine, and astronomy are among the
subjects mastered by this brilliant man.
Omar's fame in the West rests upon the
collection of robāʿīyāt, or “quatrains,”
attributed to him.
Achievements
► He compiled astronomical tables and contributed to calendar
reform and discovered a geometrical method of solving cubic
equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle.
► He was a famous astronomer and invented Jalali
Calendar became the base of other calendars and is also known
to be more accurate than the Gregorian calendar.
► He is the first to invent the method of calculating trigonometry
and algebraic equations of the third degree by cutting the cone,
and he is the owner of the famous quadrilaterals.
Fun Fact

He was the first mathematician to think about

the 'Saccheri quadrilateral' in the 11th
century.
He Discovered Pascal’s Triangle and
Triangular Array of Binomial Coefficients

He Developed his Passion for Mathematics,

Working as an Algebra and Geometry Teacher

He also Wrote, Problems of Arithmetic, a

Book on Music and Algebra
Some Questions
► When was Omar Khayyam ► He was the first
Born? mathematician to think about
1049 the 'Saccheri quadrilateral' in
the 11th century.
1040
True
1048
False
1050
► He is known as the “father of
► What did he study? algebra”
Philosophy True
English False
Humanities
French
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY