Ibn Al Haytham New Astronomy And Spherical Geometry

This volume provides a unique primary source on the history and philosophy of mathematics and science from the mediaeval Arab world. The fourth volume of A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics is complemented by three preceding volumes which focused on infinitesimal determinations and other chapters of classical mathematics. This book includes five main works of the polymath Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on astronomy, spherical geometry and trigonometry, plane trigonometry and studies of astronomical instruments on hour lines, horizontal sundials and compasses for great circles. In particular, volume four examines: the increasing tendency to mathematize the inherited astronomy from Greek sources, namely Ptolemy's Almagest; the development of celestial kinematics; new research in spherical geometry and trigonometry required by the new kinematical theory; the study on astronomical instruments and its impact on mathematical research. These new historical materials and their mathematical and historical commentaries contribute to rewriting the history of mathematical astronomy and mathematics from the 11th century on. Including extensive commentary from one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, this fundamental text is essential reading for historians and mathematicians at the most advanced levels of research.

This fifth volume of A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics is complemented by four preceding volumes which focused on the main chapters of classical mathematics: infinitesimal geometry, theory of conics and its applications, spherical geometry, mathematical astronomy, etc. This book includes seven main works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) and of two of his predecessors, Thābit ibn Qurra and al-Sijzī: The circle, its transformations and its properties; Analysis and synthesis: the founding of analytical art; A new mathematical discipline: the Knowns; The geometrisation of place; Analysis and synthesis: examples of the geometry of triangles; Axiomatic method and invention: Thābit ibn Qurra; The idea of an Ars Inveniendi: al-Sijzī. Including extensive commentary from one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, this fundamental text is essential reading for historians and mathematicians at the most advanced levels of research.

"In this unique insight into the history and philosophy of mathematics and science in the mediaeval Arab world, the eminent scholar Roshdi Rashed illuminates the various historical, textual and epistemic threads that underpinned the history of Arabic mathematical and scientific knowledge up to the seventeenth century. The first of five wide-ranging and comprehensive volumes, this book provides a detailed exploration of Arabic mathematics and sciences in the ninth and tenth centuries. Extensive and detailed analyses and annotations support a number of key Arabic texts, which are translated here into English for the first time. In this volume Rashed focuses on the traditions of celebrated polymaths from the ninth and tenth centuries 'School of Baghdad' - such as the Ban ︣Ms︣,́ Thb́it ibn Qurra, Ibrh́m̋ ibn Sinń, Ab ︣Jaþfar al-Khźin, Ab ︣Sahl Wayjan ibn Rustḿ al-Qh︣ ̋- and eleventh-century Andalusian mathematicians like Ab ︣al-Qśim ibn al-Samh, and al-Mu'taman ibn Hd︣. The Archimedean-Apollonian traditions of these polymaths are thematically explored to illustrate the historical and epistemological development of 'infinitesimal mathematics' as it became more clearly articulated in the eleventh-century influential legacy of al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham ('Alhazen'). Contributing to a more informed and balanced understanding of the internal currents of the history of mathematics and the exact sciences in Islam, and of its adaptive interpretation and assimilation in the European context, this fundamental text will appeal to historians of ideas, epistemologists, mathematicians at the most advanced levels of research"--

This volume provides a unique primary source on the history and philosophy of mathematics and science from the mediaeval Arab world. It also includes extensive commentary from one of world's foremost authorities.

Despite its importance in the history of Ancient science, Menelaus’ Spherics is still by and large unknown. This treatise, which lies at the foundation of spherical geometry, is lost in Greek but has been preserved in its Arabic versions. The reader will find here, for the first time edited and translated into English, the essentials of this tradition, namely: a fragment of an early Arabic translation and the first Arabic redaction of the Spherics composed by al-Māhānī /al-Harawī, together with a historical and mathematical study of Menelaus’ treatise. With this book, a new and important part of the Greek and Arabic legacy to the history of mathematics comes to light. This book will be an indispensable acquisition for any reader interested in the history of Ancient geometry and science and, more generally, in Greek and Arabic science and culture.

Arabian text with English translation and commentary

The chief argument of this book, first published in 1990, is that Ibn al-Haytham's On the Configuration of the World is a non-technical expose of basic astronomical teachings: it was written in particular for those whose main interests were in the areas of philosophy and natural science and who, accordingly, had an interest in relating the mathematical devices employed by professional astronomers to the heavenly bodies mentioned in the philosophical literature. However, the primary reason for this publication is not the advancement of this thesis, but rather the presentation of the medieval texts themselves, normally so inaccessible to scholars and students alike.

Islamic civilization flourished in the Middle Ages across a vast geographical area that spans today's Middle and Near East. First published in 2006, Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the 7th and 16th centuries. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. Entries also explore the importance of interfaith relations and the permeation of persons, ideas, and objects across geographical and intellectual boundaries between Europe and the Islamic world. This reference work provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization and brings together in one authoritative text all aspects of Islamic civilization during the Middle Ages. Accessible to scholars, students and non-specialists, this resource will be of great use in research and understanding of the roots of today's Islamic society as well as the rich and vivid culture of medieval Islamic civilization.