Ali ibn Ahmad al-Nasawi

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Ali ibn Ahmad Al-Nasawi was a mathematician of the Islamic Middle Ages (11th century, fl. 1029 to 1044).

Abu al-Hasan too.

He is known for an arithmetic book that Franz Woepcke made famous in 1863. The original version was in Persian for Prince Majd al-Dawlah of the Buyid dynasty. When he was deposed in 1029 or 1030, Al-Nasawi presented the book to the vizier Sharaf al-Muluk of the ruler of Baghdad Jalal ad-Dawlah (ruled 1025-1044). To do this, he had to translate the book into Arabic. Another book by him is dedicated to the influential Shiite leader al-Murtada (965-1044) in Baghdad. He also mentions the city of Nasa in Khorasan in his writings , from which he may come.

He lived temporarily in Baghdad, but also, as was later found out, in Shahr-e Rey and was visited by Avicenna . He also published an abridged version of Euclid's Elements (books 1 through 6 and 11, Tajrid Uqlidis). According to his own statements, his geometry book is an introduction for those who want to study geometry for themselves as well as for those who need it for Ptolemy's Almagest .

His arithmetic book (al-Muqni fi l-Hisab al-Hindi, Leiden MS 1021) deals with arithmetic in the Indian decimal system (and in a chapter with the sexagesimal system). Fractional calculations are also dealt with, calculation of square and cube roots, whereby the method for cube roots was as in Chinese Jiu Zhang Suanshu - and the rule of nine . The work has no originality and shows limited math skills and understanding. He criticizes two older books on Indian arithmetic (by Kushyar ibn Labban , possibly his teacher, and Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari (died 895)).

There is also a book by him on Menelaus' theorem (AlIshba) and on the lemmas of Archimedes (originally translated by Thabit ibn Qurra and revised by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi ).

literature

  • AS Saidan, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Volume 9, pp. 614-615
  • Heinrich Suter : About the arithmetic book of Ali ben Ahmed el-Nasawi, Bibliotheca Mathematica, 2nd series, Volume 7, 1906, pp. 113-119
  • Franz Wöpcke: Mémoires sur la propagation des chiffres indiens, Journal Asiatique, 6th series, Volume 1, 1863, p. 492ff
  • J. Ragep, ES Kennedy: A description of Zahiriyya (Damascus) MS 4871: a philosophical and scientific collection, J. Hist. Arabic Sci., Vol. 5, 1981, pp. 85-108.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Until the 1970s there was no known mention in Arabic biographies. New references from ES Kennedy, J. Ragep, see literature.
  2. ↑ Article Al-Nasawi in Mctutor, see web links
personal data
SURNAME al-Nasawi, Ali ibn Ahmad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES al-Nasawi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Arabic mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century or 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 11th century