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  • Book cover of From Alexandria, Through Baghdad

    This book honors the career of historian of mathematics J.L. Berggren, his scholarship, and service to the broader community. The first part, of value to scholars, graduate students, and interested readers, is a survey of scholarship in the mathematical sciences in ancient Greece and medieval Islam. It consists of six articles (three by Berggren himself) covering research from the middle of the 20th century to the present. The remainder of the book contains studies by eminent scholars of the ancient and medieval mathematical sciences. They serve both as examples of the breadth of current approaches and topics, and as tributes to Berggren's interests by his friends and colleagues.

  • Book cover of Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam
    J.L. Berggren

     · 2014

    This book presents episodes from the mathematics of medieval Islam, work which has had a great impact on the development of mathematics. The author describes the subject in its proper historical context, referring to specific Arabic texts. Among the topics discussed are decimal arithmetic, plane and spherical trigonometry, algebra, interpolation and approximation of roots of equations. This book should be of great interest to historians of mathematics, as well as to students of mathematics. The presentation is readily accessible to anyone with a background in high school mathematics.

  • Book cover of Pi: A Source Book

    The aim of this book is to provide a complete history of pi from the dawn of mathematical time to the present. The story of pi reflects the most seminal, the most serious and sometimes the silliest aspects of mathematics, and a suprising amount of the most important mathematics and mathematicians have contributed to its unfolding. Pi is one of the few concepts in mathematics whose mention evokes a response of recognition and interest in those not concerned professionally with the subject. Yet, despite this, no source book on pi has been published. One of the beauties of the literature on pi is that it allows for the inclusion of very modern, yet still accessible, mathematics. Mathematicians and historians of mathematics will find this book indespensable. Teachers at every level from the seventh grade onward will find here ample resources for anything from special topic courses to individual talks and special student projects. The literature on pi included in this source book falls into three classes: first a selection of the mathematical literature of four millennia, second a variety of historial studies or writings on the cultural meaning and significance of the number, and third, a number of treatments on pi that are fanciful, satirical and/or whimsical.

  • Book cover of Euclid's Phaenomena

    Originally published in 1996, this book contains a translation and study of Euclid's Phaenomena, a work which once formed part of the mathematical training of astronomers from Central Asia to Western Europe. Included is an introduction that sets Euclid's geometry of the celestial sphere, and its application to the astronomy of his day, into its historical context for readers not already familiar with it. So no knowledge of astronomy or advanced mathematics is necessary for an understanding of the work. The book shows mathematical astronomy shortly before the invention of trigonometry, which allowed the calculation of exact results and the subsequent composition of Ptolemy's Almagest. This work and the (roughly) contemporaneous treatises of Autolycus and Aristarchos form a corpus of the oldest extant works on mathematical astronomy. Together with Euclid's Optics one has the beginnings of the history of science as an application of mathematics.

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    The book contains a translation and study of Euclid's Phaenomena, a work which once formed part of the mathematical training of astronomers from Central Asia to Western Europe. Included is an introduction that sets Euclid's geometry of the celestial sphere, and its application to the astronomy of his day, into its historical context for readers not already familiar with it. So no knowledge of astronomy or advanced mathematics is necessary for an understanding of the work. The book shows mathematical astronomy shortly before the invention of trigonometry, which allowed the calculation of exact.

  • Book cover of Geminos's Introduction to the Phenomena

    This book is generously illustrated with diagrams from medieval manuscripts of Geminos's text, as well as drawings and photographs of ancient astronomical instruments. It will be of great interest to students of the history of science, to classicists, and to professional and amateur astronomers who seek to learn more about the origins of their science."

  • Book cover of Ptolemy's Geography

    But more important, he introduced the practice of writing down coordinates of latitude and longitude for every feature drawn on a world map, so that someone else possessing only the text of the Geography could reproduce Ptolemy's map at any time, in whole or in part, at any scale." "Historians of science, classicists, and anyone who enjoys beautiful maps or map making will find this work an indispensable addition to their library."--BOOK JACKET.

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  • Book cover of American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 9:3

    The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS), established in 1984, is a quarterly, double blind peer-reviewed and interdisciplinary journal, published by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), and distributed worldwide. The journal showcases a wide variety of scholarly research on all facets of Islam and the Muslim world including subjects such as anthropology, history, philosophy and metaphysics, politics, psychology, religious law, and traditional Islam.

  • Book cover of Mathematik im mittelalterlichen Islam

    Dieses Buch enthält Episoden aus der Mathematik des mittelalterlichen Islam, die einen großen Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Mathematik hatten. Der Autor beschreibt das Thema in seinem historischen Zusammenhang und bezieht sich hierbei auf arabische Texte. Zu den behandelten Gebieten gehören die Entdeckung der Dezimalbrüche, Geometrie, ebene und sphärische Trigonometrie, Algebra und die Näherungslösungen von Gleichungen. Außerdem werden eine Reihe von Anwendungen dieser Gebiete in der Gesellschaft des Islam, wie beispielsweise im Steuerwesen, im Erbfall, bei der Berechnung von Gebetszeiten und der Geometrie der Ornamente dargestellt. Das Buch ist für Mathematikhistoriker sowie für Mathematikstudenten von großem Interesse. Die Präsentation ist für jedermann mit Mathematikkenntnissen einer weiterführenden Schule leicht zugänglich.