It’s hard to believe that a civilization consisting of once illiterate nomadic warriors could have a profound impact on the field of mathematics. Yet, many scholars credit the Arabs with preserving much of ancient wisdom. After conquering much of Eastern Europe and Northern Africa the Islamic based Abbasid Empire transitioned away from military conquest into intellectual enlightenment. Florian Cajori speaks of this transition in A History of Mathematics. He states, “Astounding as was the grand march of conquest by the Arabs, still more so was the ease hit which they put aside their former nomadic life adopted a higher civilization, and assumed the sovereignty over cultivated peoples” (Cajori 99). Due to this change in culture,t he Abbasid Empire was able to bridge the gap between two of the most dominant civilizations in mathematic history; the Greeks and the Italians. At the time of Islamic expansion, much of the world had fallen into massive intellectual decline. The quest for knowledge had faltered as civilizations were forced to fight for survival. Islamic scholars played a critical role in retrieving scholarly works from these civilizations and preserving them for future use. According to to Carl Boyer in his book, also titled A History of Mathematics, “Had it not been for the sudden cultural awakening in Islam during the second half of the eighth century, considerably more of ancient science and mathematics would have been lost” (Boyer 227). Islamic scholars did more than just preserve mathematical history. Persian mathematicians, Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, Abu Bakr al-Karaji, and Omar Khayyam, attached rules and provided logical proofs to Grecian geometry thus creating a new field of mathematics called algeb...
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...h is done today. In fact, he is most known as a poet, not a mathematician. Omar Khayyam is most known as the author of some short poems included in Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat (Texas A&M). The main focus here will be on his geometric proofs regarding the root of third degree polynomials; however, he also pushed for the use of rational numbers and helped to prove the parallel postulate. An article by Texas A&M’s Math Department states, “He discovered exactly what must be showed to prove the parallel postulate, and it was upon these ideas that non-Euclidean geometry was discovered” (Texas A&M). Briefly, the Euclidian parallel postulate is: Given a point and a line, there can only be one line that goes through the point and is parallel to the given line. (See figure below) Khayyam solidified this idea by using a quadrilateral to show the existence of parallel lines.
When looking at the Abbasid caliphate, the mere thought of an Islamic age of scientific learning characterizes the time period with several caliphs endorsing the arts passionately. These caliphs, specifically Al Mansur and Haroun Al-Rashid, all looked at the arts with an intense, burning awareness in that their values, priorities, and personality traits that distinguish their reigns differ quite significantly. Despite Haroun Al Rashid’s brief glimpses of rage that changes the view of the audience of the great caliph, the reign of Al Mansur was only slightly more brutal and hated; but its important to note that that the two caliphs did in fact usher in a new age of rulers who had an extraordinary amount of appreciation for the arts.
Geometry, a cornerstone in modern civilization, also had its beginnings in Ancient Greece. Euclid, a mathematician, formed many geometric proofs and theories [Document 5]. He also came to one of the most significant discoveries of math, Pi. This number showed the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle.
Their achievements in mathematics are astounding to modern minds because we assume that such mathematical concepts are more modern in origin. But the proof is there, on those tablets, the ones baked in the sun. Math in ancient Babylon was advanced.
Today, the modern world has been greatly influenced by Muslims. Muslims are very intelligent people and created and invented many achievements. In ninth century Arabia, Muslims contributed: Intellectual, Cultural, and Economic advancements that have impacted the world long term.
“Recovering and preserving the learning of ancient civilizations of Mediterranean…. Greek learning had been lost to the peoples of western Europe. Thanks to Muslim…the priceless writings of the Greeks on …. (everything) was saved” (Source 2). Because of the Muslims curiosity to learn and preserve other cultures they saved what could have been lost forever. But they also perfected most of what the Greeks got wrong in the medical and mathematic department, but they wouldn’t have been able to perfect it without studying and questioning (why was this the way it is?). “The many Muslim accomplishments in these areas included major corrections to the algebraic and geometric theories of the ancient Greeks and great advances in the use of basic concepts of trigonometry.” (Source 3). So, what the world learned from Muslims was questioning things and finding better ways to get that answers we
In the book Practica Geometriae, geometry problems seemed to be his main focus. The book was arranged into 8 chapters with theorems based on Euclid's Elements and On Divisions. One can say that the authors of the books and him worked togetherbecause of the great influence he received from them. Once people found out about Fibonacci being a ge...
Natural philosophy might have played a much smaller role in Islamic science but is not to be overlooked. Al ma’mun built observatories as high as three stories in order to gain a better understanding of the cosmos. With these tools, Islamic astronomers made accurate descriptions of the heavens and created their own geocentric views of the orbits of the heavenly bodies. Attached to many of these observatories were great libraries. Islamic libraries contained a wealth of knowledge which was taken from other civilizations and translated to Arabic such as the House of Wisdom. These libraries had upwards of 2 million books, a massive accomplishment considering they did not have movable type. The Islamic Empire also saw great advances in mathematical understanding with the creation of trigonometry and algebra.
...or spreading Islam. Advancements in Science and Math helped Islam to move faster. Islam was uniquely successful to attract people towards it where bloodshed was rarely required.
On the board on Monday morning, there were numbers one through five and they each had a religion written next to them. 1 was Hinduism, 2 was Christianity, 3 was Judaism, 4 was Buddhism, and I was lucky enough to get 5: Islam. Oh, I know so much about Islam culture and their religion, are you kidding? I don’t even know where Islam is. I’m just kidding, it’s not a country. There are many differences between Islam and the United states like our religion, clothes, and food, and becoming a Christian or a Muslim, but Islam is the second largest religion in the world, so it’s important to a lot of people. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Becoming a Muslim is not an easy process. You must do a long list of tasks. After you become a Muslim you must do everything in your power to try to have a good Muslim lifestyle.
The foundations of mathematics are strongly rooted in the history and way of life of the Egyptian people, dating back to the fourth millennium B.C. in Egypt. Egyptian mathematics was elementary. It was generally arrived at by trial and error as a way to obtain desired results. As such, early Egyptian mathematics were primarily arithmetic, with an emphasis on measurement, surveying, and calculation in geometry. The development of arithmetic and geometry grew out of the need to develop land and agriculture and engage in business and trade. Over time, historians have discovered records of such transactions in the form of Egyptian carvings known as hieroglyphs.
Mathematics in Islamic Civilization - Dr. Ragheb Elsergany - Islam Story. (n.d.). Islam Story - Supervised by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany. Retrieved April 26, 2011, from http://en.islamstory.com/mathematics-islamic-civilization.html
Burton, D. (2011). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction. (Seventh Ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Pythagoras is truly a man unlike any other throughout history. Perhaps his greatest achievements are within the realm of mathematics; with his greatest known theory being the Pythagorean Theorem. His theory is so well known that even today it peaks the interests of many mathematicians, with more than 400 proofs being spawned off of his original theorem. Though his theorem is common knowledge in this modern age, his life still remains a mystery to most, similar to most pre-Socratic philosophers. What little we do know is often shrouded in rumors and conflicting reports, but despite this, it is clearly evident that his contributions to mathematics were substantial.
The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...
During this time, Islamic Science transformed scientific knowledge when Muslims acquired Greek written works and began their study and translation in Arabic to later create the foundation of a newer, more knowledgeable world. Through the Islamic perspective, science is the study of nature and the concept of the “oneness” of God. Muslim scientists turn to the Qur’an, which is religious Islamic text, as inspiration. The Muslims and their “so-called Islamic sciences were those devoted to the study of the Qur’an, the traditions of the Prophet, legal knowledge, theology, poetry, and the Arabic language” (52 Huff). The Qur’an can be viewed as the primary source that led the path to their developing knowledge. Muẓaffar Iqbal notes that this belief, “ which revolves around the Qur-anic concept of life, death, resurrection, prophet hood and the moral response of the two sentient beings to its message, provided the first conceptual framework for the Islamic tradition of learning” (Iqbal 1). The Qur’an was reflected as a God of direction and support of civilization.