The Contribution of Muslim Scientists to the field of science and technologies specially in Mathematics.

 

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Islam has its golden history almost in every field of knowledge. The supreme theological approach of Islam is Al-Qur'an from its creation. Early Muslim scholars were well aware of the instructions of Allah s.w.t, which were given in the holy book. The contributions of the Muslim scholars in the field of Mathematics were the glory of the time. We will discuss in this blog that what is the contribution of Muslim Scientists in the field of Mathematics? and what concepts and theories were developed by Muslim scholars during the early and medieval time?

In Mathematics:

1. Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi: was born in 780 A.D., also known as the Al-Khwarizmi. He considered to as the "Father of Modern Algebra", and he developed sine, cosine, and trigonometrically tables. The word "algorithm" is derivative from his name. Al-Khwarizmi developed the Arabic numerals, the decimal position system, and the concept of zero. He was appointed as the astronomer and the head of the library of "House of Wisdom" by caliph Al-Mamun in Baghdad.

His important book on algebra was "Hisabal-Jabr waal-Muqabalah" (The calculation of integration and Equation). Systemized and corrected Ptolemy's data "Kitab Surat al-Ard" (The Image of Earth) it was based on geographical work.

2. Ghiyath al-Din al-Kashani: was a renowned personality of the 14th century; his main work was on the theory of numbers and techniques of competitions. He figured a value of 2pi to sixteen decimal digits of accuracy using an approximation of the circle by 805306368 side polygon. He well-defined an algorithm for finding the fifth root of any number in his book "Miftah-ul-Hissab" or "The Calculator's Key."

3. Abu Wafa Muhammad al-Buzanji: was a great mathematician and astrologer in Baghdad during the Abbasids period. His main contribution was geometry and trigonometry; he sorted out the geometrical problem with opening compass and construction of a square equivalent to other squares, regular polyhedral, etc.

4. Al-Hassan ibn al-Haytham: known as "Alhazen's problem" to the west, and the "father of modern optics," his famous book on Optics "Kitab al-Manazir" (Book of Optics: A theory of vision and a theory of light) was translated into Latin. In the 12th century, his successors called them "Ptolemy the Second."

5. Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan Al Battani Al-Harran: commonly known as al-Battani, was born around 868 CE and died in 929 CE. He was the great scientist and astronomer of the time, he made some corrections in Ptolemy's works, and he made fresh tables of Sun and Moon. His significant books are as follow;

"Kitab al-Zij," known as Al-Zij Al-Sabi, focused on practical more than theoretical in mathematics.

"Commentary on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos," in his book, he corrected many errors of Ptolemy's results.

 

References

Faridi, D. M. (2018, August 01). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327351093_Famous_Muslim_Scientists. Retrieved from ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327351093_Famous_Muslim_Scientists

Faruqi, Y. M. (2006). Contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific Enterprise. International Education Journal, 391-399.