Mathematics in medieval Islam

Mathematics in medieval Islam' or sometimes referred to as Islamic mathematics is a term used in the history of mathematics that refers to the mathematics developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600, in the part of the world where Islam was the dominant religion. Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate (also known as the Islamic Empire) established across the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, Sicily, the Iberian Peninsula, and in parts of France and India in the 8th century. The center of Islamic mathematics was located in Persia (including eastern part of present-day Iraq) , but at its greatest extent stretched from North Africa and Spain in the west and to India in the east.^[1]

While most scientists in this period were Muslims and Arabic was the dominant language—much like Latin in Medieval Europe, Arabic was used as the chosen written language of most scholars throughout the Islamic world at the time—contributions were almost exclusively non-Arabs such as Persians, Berbers, Moors, Turks) and sometimes different religions (Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sabians, Zoroastrians, irreligious).

Muslims Contribution To The World of Mathematic

Mathematics

Muslim mathematicians excelled in geometry, as can be seen in their graphic arts, and it was the great Al-Biruni (who excelled also in the fields of natural history, even geology and mineralogy) who established trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Other Muslim mathematicians made significant progress in number theory.

It is interesting to note that Islam so strongly urges mankind to study and explore the universe. For example, the Holy Qur'an states:

"We (Allah) will show you (mankind) Our signs/patterns in the horizons/universe and in yourselves until you are convinced that the revelation is the truth." [Qur'an, 41:53]

This invitation to explore and search made Muslims interested in astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, and the other sciences, and they had a very clear and firm understanding of the correspondences among geometry, mathematics, and astronomy.

The Muslims invented the symbol for zero (The word "cipher" comes from Arabic sifr), and they organized the numbers into the decimal system - base 10. Additionally, they invented the symbol to express an unknown quantity, i.e. variables like x.

The first great Muslim mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi, invented the subject of algebra (al-Jabr), which was further developed by others, most notably Umar Khayyam. Al-Khawarizmi's work, in Latin translation, brought the Arabic numerals along with the mathematics to Europe, through Spain. The word "algorithm" is derived fr

Mathematics and Islam

Modern mathematics owes much of its existence to Islam.

Islamic mathematicians of the middle ages developed many of the fundamental cornerstones of modern mathematics. The word algebra comes from the Arabic al-jabr, "restoration". The field of algebra was developed by Muslim mathematicians in the Middle East and India.

Algorithms, the processes of mathematics and computer science, are named after the great Arabic mathematician al-Khwarizmi.

The Prophet Mohammed enjoined Muslims to seek learning. The enlightened cultural traditions of Islam ensured that the mathematical works of previous cultures, such as the ancient Greeks, were preserved rather than destroyed. Euclid's geometry is only known to us because it was preserved in Arabic by Muslim scholars.

Our modern number system is called Hindu-Arabic in recognition of its origins in the number systems of India and Arabia. Our number system depends fundamentally on the number 0 (zero) which was invented by Arab mathematicians. A numeral is sometimes called a cipher (hence encipher, decipher) from the Arabic word sifr meaning zero.