Treasures of the Islamic scientific tradition

This is a webpage with sources and information on the course Treasures of the Islamic Scientific Tradition Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, December 2003.

Program and Registration.

Lecture: Conic sections and their applications in medieval Islamic geometry. December 2, 2003.

Some internet sources on the history of Islamic mathematics and astronomy: html, pdf
Sheets of the lecture pdf (not all pictures are included)
Handout 1: the report of the Banu Musa about their translation of the Conics of Apollonius from Greek to Arabic, English translation only, pdf
(the Arabic will be handed out during the lecture.)
Handout 2: Proposition I:13 of the Conics of Apollonius, English translation of the whole proposition, Arabic translation of the enunciation. pdf
Handout 3: Abu Sahl al-Kuhi (ca. 395/985), construction of an equilateral (non-equiangular) pentagon inscribed in a square. pdf (modern summary)
Handout 4: Anonymous late 4th century H/10th-century CE text on a quartic equation by means of conic sections. Translation and figures. Arabic text.
Literature.

Three short encyclopaedia articles on trisection of the angle, the construction of two mean proportionals, and the quadrature of the circle.

Lecture: The development of medieval Islamic astronomy in its historic context, December 7

Workshop: Mysteries of Islamic Mosaics, December 7

Lecture: The determination of pi and the sine of 1 degree in circa 16 decimals by al-Kashi (around 825/1420), December 9

Sheets in pdf
Note: the pages of Arabic manuscripts and Luckey's transcriptions are not included here.
There will be a handout containing some copies of the computations in the Arabic manuscripts, with their transcriptions, which have been taken from the sheets.
Literature.

Lecture: The mathematical methodology of medieval Islamic astronomy, December 14

Workshop: The Astrolabe, December 14

Lecture: The influence of medieval Islamic mathematics and astronomy on the development of European science, December 16

Lecture: The mathematical and historical background of a newly discovered instrument for finding the direction and distance of Makka, December 21.