Paper of Mathematical History

HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS ARAB

CREATED BY :

Khalishah Qatrunnada (4163312013)

Tira Kristy Pane (4163312028)

Bilingual Mathematics Education 2016

MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCES
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2019
 PREEFACE

Praise the presence of God Almighty because with His grace and guidance we can
complete this paper as expected. In this paper we will discuss the "History of Arabic
Mathematics". We also thank you as a lecturer in the History of Mathematics course. This
paper is compiled as additional knowledge in the History of Mathematics course. In addition,
this paper can also broaden our horizons.
We realize that this paper is far from perfect. Therefore, we always expect criticism
and suggestions from all parties that are constructive. We thank the supporting lecturers and
friends who have participated in the preparation of this paper from beginning to end. May the
Almighty God always bless all our efforts. Amen
We realize that in the process of writing this paper is far from perfect both the
material and the way of writing. However, we have tried with all the capabilities and
knowledge we have so that it can be resolved properly. Therefore, the authors openly accept
input, suggestions and suggestions for improving this paper.

`
Medan, November 08th 2019

Author

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

PREEFACE ............................................................................................................................... i

TABLE OF CONTENT...........................................................................................................ii

CHAPTER I ............................................................................................................................. 1

PRELIMINARY ...................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Identification Problem .............................................................................................. 1

1.3 Purpose ....................................................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................ 2

DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 2

2.1 History of Arabic Mathematics (Muslim) ............................................................... 2

2.2 Arabic Mathematics figures ..................................................................................... 3

2.3 Arabic (Muslim) Mathematical Number System ................................................... 7

2.4 Zero Number System (0)........................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER III ........................................................................................................................ 11

CLOSING ............................................................................................................................... 11

3.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 11

3.2 Suggestion ................................................................................................................ 11

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 CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY

1.1 Background
The development of Arabic mathematics after the middle of the eighth century
was very admirable, and had a huge role and contribution to the development of the
history of mathematics. In the first century of the development of Islamic religion, the
Arabs were still far behind in the field of science compared to the surrounding
countries, such as Persia, India, Greece, and Rome. In the beginning of the century it
seemed that the Arabs were still busy with contradictions within their own country
and were busy developing Islam from the Arabian peninsula to outside Arabia.
But in the year 750, namely at the beginning of the reign of the caliphs of the
Abbas's shoulders the situation turned very sharp, where from then on the Arabs rose
to catch up in the field of science. The Arabs began to study astronomy, philosophical
concepts, medical science, mathematics and other sciences from Greece, Egypt, India,
Babylonia and others. Greek and Indian classical works were brought to Baghdad,
then translated into Arabic. This is very beneficial for the development of the history
of mathematics, because almost all works of ancient Greek matematician can not be
found anymore, which remains now only a translation of these works in Arabic.

1.2 Identification Problem

The formulation of the problem can be made as follows:
1. What is the history of the development of Arabic mathematics?
2. What is the Arabic mathematical number system?
3. Who are the pioneers in Arabic mathematics?

1.3 Purpose
The objectives are as follows:
1. To know the development of Arabic mathematics.
2. To find out the Arabic mathematical number system.
3. To find out the pioneering figures of Arabic mathematics.

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 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

2.1 History of Arabic Mathematics (Muslim)

History records that after Greece collapsed, a new era emerged, namely the
glory of Islam in Arab lands. This results in the development of culture and science
centered and dominated by Muslim-Arabs. During the Caliphate of Harun Al-Rashid,
the fifth caliph during the Abassiyah dynasty, which began around 786 AD, there was
a massive translation of ancient Greek (also other scientific) mathematical texts into
Arabic. In the next caliphate, the caliph Al-Ma'mun, he translated the Elements text
(containing a collection of mathematical knowledge) written by Euclid.
Muslim contributions to the development of mathematics were limited to the
activity of translating ancient Greek manuscripts into Arabic. Many historians of
mathematics do not present the great contribution of Muslims to the development of
mathematics, either by deliberate or ignorance. But not a few of the historians of
mathematics from the West are more objective in presenting the facts that actually
happened. In one source written by J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson said that the
western world actually has a lot of debt to Muslim scientists / mathematicians.
Furthermore, the very rapid development in mathematics in the 16th century to the
18th century in the western world, was actually started by Muslim mathematicians
centuries before.
In the book A History of Mathematics, Victor Katz writes that: The history of
medieval Islamic mathematics cannot be written in full, because many Arabic
manuscripts have not been studied. Still, the outline is known. Islamic mathematicians
developed the numeral system of decimal location values that included decimal
fractions, compiled algebraic studies and began to consider the relationship between
algebra and geometry, study and advance the Greek geometry theory that Euclidean,
Archimedes, and Apollonius made, and made great progress in the fields of sphere
and geometry. The contribution of Islamic mathematics is the development of algebra.
In algebra, mathematicians use the symbols x, y, or z instead of numbers.

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2.2 Arabic Mathematics figures
1. Al-Khawarismi
It is not known exactly when Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khawarismi
was born, it is estimated he died around 850 AD Al-Khawarismi wrote more
than half a dozen works on mathematics and astronomy. A brief history is
found in the book Al-Fihrist Ibn an-Nadim, which also explains his written
works. His works are probably based on the works of Siddhanta from India.
There are two famous works of Al-Khawarismi. One of them is a book
which he has translated into Latin with the title "Alqorismi Identimero
Indirum" (about the art of Hindu counting) where the original work in Arabic
is no longer found. In this book, based on the translation of Brahmagupta's
work "Brahma sputa siddhata" in Arabic, Al-Khawarismi provides an
explanation of the Hindu numerical system. So that it becomes the numeration
system that we use today. Although Al-Khawarismi does not state that this
numeration system is the result of his own work, but this new notation is better
known as "Algorismi", which comes from the name Al-Khawarismi itself.
The first well-known Arabic arithmetic is derived from the work of Al-
Khawarismi. Al-Khawarismi arithmetic introduces the Hindu numerical
system and also provides an explanation of the laws that apply in Hindu
algorithmism, and the computational process known as "casting out 9's",
which is used to examine arithmetic computational results, as well as the laws
of "false position" and "double false position", where certain algebraic
processes can be completed non-algebraically.
Al-Khawarismi's second most famous work is his book entitled "Hisab
Algebra Almuqabalah", where the words of algebra originate from the title of
this Al-Khawarismi book. Al-Khawarismi's work is closer to algebra lessons
being studied in high schools now, compared to Diophantus algebra. Al-
Khawarismi's work does not contain many difficult problems, contains simple
problems and solutions. The real difference between al-Khawarismi algebra
and Diophantus algebra is:
1) Algebra Al-Khawarismi is much simpler than algebra Diophantus.
2) Algebra Al-Khawarismi is entirely rhetorical, where there is no
syncopation of either Diophantus or Brahmagupta. Even numbers in
Al-Khawarismi algebra are written in words, not with symbols.
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 In general it can be said that al-khawarismi algebra is not entirely from
Greece or India. This can be seen from the work of Diophantus, who only
knew one solution from a quadratic equation. While al-khawarismi knows 2
solutions. Likewise al-khawarismi algebra is not entirely derived from India,
because Hindu matematicians are not familiar with algebraic laws such as
restoration and reduction. Besides that al-khawarismi algebra is elementary
and rhetorical.

2. Thabit ibn Qurra(826 -901)

Besides Al-Khawarismi, there is another Arabic mathematician, Thabit
ibn Qurra. Thabit ibn Qurra is an Arabic mathematician who made his
contribution in algebra. He opened a school for translators. Thabit's translation
of the works of Apollonius, Archimedes, Eulid, Ptolemy, and Theodore is
considered the best.
Desertab Thabit ibn Qurra's formula for determining amicable numbers
is an original work of the Arabs. Thehabit provides a formula for friendly
numbers. Like Pappus, Thabit also provides generalizations of the
Pythagorean theorem that applies to all triangles, both sharp and blunt. If from
an angle A an arbitrary triangle ABC is made lines intersecting BC at B 'and
C', so that the angle AB'B and the angle AC'C are the same as the angle A,
then AB2 + AC2 = BC(BB’ + CC’).

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 Other contributions from Thabit ibn Qurra are other alternatives to the
proof of Phytagoras, works on parabola and parabolic segments, about magic
squares, and new theories about astronomy.

3. Abu Kamil Shuja (850-930)

Another well-known Arabic matematician is Abu Kamil Shuja bin
Aslam, who is known as the "arithmetic expert from Egypt". Abu Kamil Shuja
is an algebra expert. He wrote a book entitled "The book of fil-jabr w'al
muqabalah", which is a commentary on the work of al-khawarismi, then gave
additional solutions to these problems. Abu Kamil Shuja's algebra is a
combination of practical things, such as those found in al-khawarismi. Abu
Kamil Shuja avoids negative solutions to the squares of unknown numbers.

4. Al-Battani (850 -929)

Al-Battani, known in Europe by the name of Albagteniue, was an
astromer. An astronomer and mathematician from Arabia. Al Battani was born
in Harran near Urfa. One of his famous achievements is about determining the
solar year as 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds. Al-Battani is also
an expert in trigonometry. He made many contributions in developing several
trigonometric theorems by refining several trigonometry theorems of Ancient
Greece. In his book which has been translated into Latin with the title "De
scientia stellaeruj" (about the movements of the stars), Al-Battani gives the
formula:

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 Then Al-Battani added a formula for angled angles, a spherical
triangle, that is:
Cos A = cos B . cos C + sin B . Sin C . Cos A

5. Abul Wefa (940 – 998)

Abul Wefa was born in Persia (Iran), he is known for his translation of
the work of Diophantus "Arithmetica", as well as his comments on algebra al-
khawarismi. In his works, Abul Wefa uses the symbol of Hindu numbers. At
this time the Tangent function is well known, namely a = b tg A, which is the
same as the current trigonometric formula. The theorem of the sine that is
already known by Ptolemy and Brahmagupta, is ascribed to Abul Wefa, this
proposition does not use the spherical formula. Abul Wefa creates a new sine
list for angles that are interval, using decimal fractions of eight digits.

6. Al- Kharki (1029)

Al-Kharki (al-karogi) was a follower of Diophantus, where he learned
a lot from Diophantus's work translated by Abul Wefa. He was the first person
to solve numerically the equation a + b = a, to obtain positive roots, which are
different with Diophantus who only gained rational roots. Al-Kharki's work in
algebra is titled: "Fakhri". One problem in this book Fakhri is looking for
rational numbers, such that the sum of the three ranks is the square of rational
numbers, or with modern notation. Besides that, Al-Kharki is an Arabic
mathematician who discovered and at the same time proved the theorem for
the number of series.

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2.3 Arabic (Muslim) Mathematical Number System
West Arabic numerals are descended from east Arabic numerals, while east
Arabic numerals themselves are adopted from Indian numerals and Hindu-Arabic
numerical systems developed by Indian mathematicians, who read numerical
sequences such as "975" as one whole number.
Arabic number system or Arabic numerals is a popular number system
consisting of numbers from 0-9 (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Arabic numerals were
popularized by Muslim mathematicians in the Middle Ages, then spread to Europe a
few centuries later, and have been the world standard since colonial times.
In accordance with their history, the numbers (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) are also
known as Hindu Figures or Hindu-Arabic Figures. The reason they are better known
as "Arabic Numerals" in Europe and America is because they were introduced to
Europe in the 10th century through the Arabs in North Africa. Formerly (and until
now) these digits are still used by western Arabs from Libya to Morocco. On the other
hand, the Arabs call the system by the name "Hindu numerals", which refers to their
origin in India. However, this number should not be confused with the "Hindu
numerals" used by Arabs in the Middle East (٠.١.٢.٣.٤.٥.٦.٧.٨.٩), which is referred to
by another name digit East Arabic; or with other numbers that are currently used in
India (for example Dewanagari numbers: ०.०.०.०.०.०.०.०.०.०).
The evolutionary form of Arabic numerals, namely Latin Arabic numerals
(which are widely used now) first appeared in Morocco and Spain (Andalusia) at the
end of the 10th century, and is known as the "Ghubar" number. Like the Latin letters,
the Ghubar number can be used from left-right.
These Latin Arabic numerals became popular and replaced Roman numerals
in Italy and later throughout Europe. Plus since the invention of the printing press in
the 15th century, Latin Arabic numbers have become very popular and are used in
almost all kingdoms in Europe.
Now, Latin Arabic numbers have become international numbers and are used
in almost all the world. Even in countries that do not use Latin letters, such as China,
Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, etc. Latin Arabic numerals are used occasionally to
replace their traditional numbers. While Roman numerals are sometimes still used for
the purposes of formality or art. The following forms of Arabic numerals:

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2.4 Zero Number System (0)
Al-Khawarizmi occupied almost all of his work between AD 813 and 833 AD
After Islam entered Persia and Baghdad became a center of science and trade, many
traders and scientists from China and India came to the city, including Al-
Khawarizmi.
There, he became part of the scientists working at Bayt al-Hikmah (House of
Wisdom), a research and development institute of science founded by Ma'mun Ar-
Rashid, the seventh caliph of the Abbasid Dynasty. By Professor of Islamic Studies at
US Temple University, Mahmoud Ayoub, Bayt al-Hikmah was named as the first
institution of higher education in the Islamic world and also the West. At this
institution, Al-Khawarizmi studied natural sciences and mathematics, as well as
translations of Sanskrit and Greek manuscripts.
In the past, before Al-Khwarizmi introduced the number zero, scientists used a
kind of list that distinguished units, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. The list,
known as the abakus, functions to keep every number in a number so that they are not
confused with their place or position in the count.
The system was in effect until the 12th century AD, when Western scientists
began choosing to use raqm al-binji (Arabic numerals) in their number systems. Raqm
albinji uses the number "zero" adopted from Indian numbers, presenting a decimal
numbering system that has never been used before.
Through his first book, Al-Mukhtasar fi Hisab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabalah
(Summary of Calculation of Algebra and Comparison), Al-Kha warizmi introduces
the zero in Arabic called shifr. The monumental work also discusses systematic
solutions of linear and quadratic notation.
The book was translated in London in 1831 by English mathematician
Fredrick Rosen, and subsequently edited in Arabic in 1939 by two Egyptian
mathematicians, Ali Mustafa Musyarrafa and Muhammad Mursi Ahmad. Previously,
in the 12th century, the work was also translated by a mathematician mate from
Chester, England, Robert (Latin: Robertus Castrensis), with the title Liber Algebras et
Al-mucabola.
Still in the same century, the Latin-language book was later edited by New
York mathematician LC Karpinski. The second version, De Jebra et Almucabola, was
written by Gerard da Cremona (1114-1187), Italian mathematician and translator. The

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book written by Gerard was said to be better and even surpassed Fredrick Rozen's
book.
Thus, even though it was introduced in the first half of the 9th century, the
new zero was recognized and used by Western scientists two and a half centuries
later. Following the introduction of zero by Al-Khawarizmi, for the first time zero
was used as a placeholder in position-based notation.
In the 12th century, Muslim mathematician from Spain, Ibrahim ibn Meir ibn
Ezra, wrote three treatises about numbers that brought Indian symbols and decimal
fractions to Europe to get the attention of a number of scientists there. The treatise
titled The Book of The Number describes the decimal system for integers with place
values from left to right. Ibn Ezra uses zero as galgal (which means wheel or circle).
Next, in 1247, the Chinese mathematician, Ch'in Chiu-Shao, wrote
Mathematical Treaties in Nine Sections which used the symbol O for zero. And in
1303, Zhu Shijie used the same symbol for zero in his work Jade Mirror of the Four
Elements. This number system also developed in Europe.
Al-Khawarizmi, the scientist who was behind the great discovery of the
mathematics of the 9th century, died in Baghdad around 850 AD.

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 CHAPTER III

CLOSING

3.1 Conclusion
The development of Arabic mathematics after the mid-eighth century was very
admirable, and had a very large role and contribution to the development of
mathematical history. In the first century of the development of Islamic religion, the
Arabs were still far behind in the field of science compared to neighboring countries,
such as Persia, India, Greece, and Rome. Mansur, Harun, Al-Rashid and Al-Ma'mun,
the city of Baghdad became the center of the development of mathematics and other
natural sciences replacing Alexandria in the Greek period.
Since the reign of these 3 caliphs until the 9th century Arabic mathematicians
emerged who contributed to the development of world mathematical history,
including al-khawarismi, Thabit ibnu Qurra, Abu Kamil Shuja and Al-Battani. After
the era of al-khawarismi, Arabic matematicians emerged that were no less popular
than previous Arabic matematicians, such as Abul Wefa, Al-Kharki, Al-Biruni, Ibn
Sina, Omar Khayyam and others.
Al-Khawarismi wrote more than half a dozen works on mathematics and
astronomy. His works are probably based on the works of Siddhanta from India. Abu
Kamil Shuja is an algebra expert. He wrote a book titled "Kitab fi aljabr
walmuqubalah", which is a commentary on the work of al-khawarismi, then gave
additional solutions to these problems..

3.2 Suggestion
So much of the sciences that have been developed are explained above by the
Arab matematician figures, that we can all learn and apply now to school.
Many more practical and simpler remedies that are delivered are very useful
for mathematics and the general public. By studying this we can find out the figures
from the Arabic mathematics.

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