al-Biruni
al-Battani
abul
Wafa
9th Century
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Trigonometry
Al-Biruni
was among those who laid the foundation for
modern trigonometry. He was a philosopher, geographer,
astronomer, physicist and mathematician. Six
hundred years before Galgeo, Al-Biruni discussed
the theory of the earth rotating about its own
axis.
Al-Biruni
carried out geodisic measurements and determined
the earth's circumference in a most ingenious
way. With the aid of mathematics, he enabled
the direction of the Qibla to be determined
from anywhere in the world.
In
the domain of trigonometry, the theory of the
functions; sine, cosine, and tangent was developed
by Muslim scholars of the tenth century. Muslim
scholars worked diligently in the development
of plane and spherical trigonometry. The, trigonometry
of Muslims is based on Ptolemy's theorem but
is superior in two important respects: it employs
the sine where Ptolemy used the chord and is
in algebraic instead of geometric form.
What
is Taught: The Greeks were the developers
of trigonometry.
What
Should be Taught: Trigonometry remained
largely a theoretical science among the Greeks.
It
was developed to a level of modern perfection
by Muslim scholars, although the weight of the
credit must be given to al-Battani.
The
words describing the basic functions of this science,
sine, cosine and tangent, are all derived from
Arabic terms. Thus, original contributions by
the Greeks in trigonometry were minimal.
What
is Taught: During the 17th century
Rene Descartes made the discovery that algebra
could be used to solve geometrical problems. By
this, he greatly advanced the science of geometry.
What
Should be Taught: Mathematicians of
the Islamic Empire accomplished precisely this
as early as the 9th century A.D. Thabit bin Qurrah
was the first to do so, and he was followed by
Abu'l Wafa, whose 10th century book utilized algebra
to advance geometry into an exact and simplified
science.
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