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Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

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Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#81

Post by FabHK »

emilsedgh wrote: post #46
nobrains wrote: post #11

Many Islamic (not just Arab. Also Persian and others) scholars were on the right track about identifying evolution, and far from the evolution denying general populace today. See the short "history" section in this article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_evolution

Wow, I had no idea! "[they] were on the right track" is an understatement. ... on what he referred to as the "gradual process of creation." He stated that the Earth began with abiotic components such as "minerals." Slowly, primitive stages of plants such as "herbs and seedless plants" developed and eventually "palms and vines." Khaldun connects the later stages of plant development to the first stages of animal devel…

I wonder, though, to which extent that was somewhat idle speculation, similar to Democritus stating that the world consists of atoms 400 BCE, without really any evidence for it (let alone a fully formed theory).

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#83

Post by vinceguidry »

acqq wrote: post #25
jacobolus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a shorthand; “Arabic” or “Islamic” mathematicians were from a wide range of religions, ethnic groups, regions, etc. It’s similar to the way we call all of the mathematicians of ~ 500 BCE – 500 CE “Greek”, even though most of the later ones were Roman citizens living in Egypt or elsewhere. Or the way we call Mesopotamian mathematics generically “Babylonian”, even though most of it was from other cities, and some…

The Greeks living in Egypt were actually Greeks, even during the existence of the Roman Empire. The Persian mathematicians living in Persia in the times after the Islamic conquest simply weren't Arabs, exactly like the Greeks weren't Romans after the Roman conquest . One doesn't get the new ethnicity by being occupied.

I think the point was that the mathematics being described is bound by geography rather than by ethnicity. Arabia is used both to refer to an ethnicity and a geographic area. So the usage is sound, as is namirez' subtle clarification due to the history of the area.

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#84

Post by mda »

wornohaulus wrote: post #80
mda wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean none of it is original, we are talking about a 400 years of process here, science always takes inspiration from all prior studies, do not discredit thousands of scientists that actually inspired western science. Also they were Muslim scientists different ethnicities, e.g Persian, Turkic and definitely Arabs as well.

He means none of the work is original.. neither the number system.. nor the additive and series based mathematics.. it's just a translation.. based10 numbers have been inuse in India for thousands of years.. it's like Columbus finding America..

It is absolutely not "just a translation", they greatly improved and introduced new concepts over prior work of Greek and other scientists considerably. The volume of novelties of Muslim scientists of the time is huge.

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#85

Post by emilsedgh »

FabHK wrote: post #81
emilsedgh wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I had no idea! "[they] were on the right track" is an understatement. ... on what he referred to as the "gradual process of creation." He stated that the Earth began with abiotic components such as "minerals." Slowly, primitive stages of plants such as "herbs and seedless plants" developed and eventually "palms and vines." Khaldun connects the later stages of plant development to the first stages of animal devel…

I wonder, though, to which extent that was somewhat idle speculation, similar to Democritus stating that the world consists of atoms 400 BCE, without really any evidence for it (let alone a fully formed theory).

A bit more from this fascinating topic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqaddimah#Biology

It seems like he had a fully formed theory which is pretty accurate.

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#86

Post by sabas123 »

rohitupadhyay wrote: post #66

most of it was mathematics they learnt from translated books from Sanskrit , Prakrit ( In India ) and Mandarin(Chinese) . None of it was original Arab work , most of Arab historians who came along with invaders have mentioned in detail how learned people were taken in as slaves to translate works in arabic

Do you have any source for this?

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#87

Post by [deleted] »

jacobolus wrote: post #23
namirez wrote: post #10

Title is slightly misleading! Most of them are Islamic but not Arabic. Khawrazmi [1], Karaji [2], Khayyam [3], and Tusi [4] were all Persian. Ibn Haytham wrote only in Arabic though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_ibn_Musa_al-Khwarizmi [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Karaji [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayyam [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharaf_al-D%C4%ABn_al-%E1%B9%A...

It’s a shorthand; “Arabic” or “Islamic” mathematicians were from a wide range of religions, ethnic groups, regions, etc. It’s similar to the way we call all of the mathematicians of ~ 500 BCE – 500 CE “Greek”, even though most of the later ones were Roman citizens living in Egypt or elsewhere. Or the way we call Mesopotamian mathematics generically “Babylonian”, even though most of it was from other cities, and some…

[deleted]

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#88

Post by [deleted] »

Aenyn wrote: post #79
dfhdshfff wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If Brin lived in Russia, spoke Russian, and wrote books in Russian we wouldn't call him American just because he wrote a few books in English too. But if he spoke Enlgish, had an English name, lived his professional life in America. and most of his major works were in Enlgish. I'd supposed you'd call him an "Anglophone" academic, which is the sense that Arab is used in.

>the individuals that I named were Persian speakers, who lived in a region that is called the Greater Iran today, and wrote most of their work in Persian And yet they are called Arab mathematicians.

[deleted]

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#89

Post by [deleted] »

yters wrote: post #7
thepete2 wrote: post #5

The word Algorithm comes from a mathematician named al-Khwarizmi. Many words that begin with Al (Arabic definite article) are of Arabic origin. Alcohol is another one :)

I've also heard that Allah is a variant of Elohim, and was used by Christians in the region before being conquered by the Muslims.

[deleted]

Re: Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (1999)

#90

Post by ggambetta »

thepete2 wrote: post #5

The word Algorithm comes from a mathematician named al-Khwarizmi. Many words that begin with Al (Arabic definite article) are of Arabic origin. Alcohol is another one :)

There's a ton of them in Spanish, due to the fact that Spain was partially occupied for centuries (which also has left some amazing architecture like the Alhambra in Granada, or the Alcazar in Seville). Alcohol as in English, but also almohada (pillow), alcalde (mayor), algodón (cotton),... and many more that don't start with "al".
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