Mediaeval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough

Scotsman ^ | 22-Feb-07 | Will Dunham

[combat_boots]

"Darb-i Imam shrine in Isfahan, Iran, built in 1453."

The Blue Mosque? Look to mosques in Syria and Aya Sofia, aka Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul first.

[denydenydeny]

No one in the media (unless you count Bernard Lewis) ever asks the obvious question: Why does every story about Islamic advances in learning or the sciences start with "1100 years ago...."?

I have no doubt that at one point Neanderthals were better at something--hunting, fire-building--than my remote ancestors. It doesn't mean that we should try to emulate Neanderthals.

[AmishDude]

This is stupid. Let me explain this: what they "discovered" was tiling a floor. The fact is that Penrose's stuff was only remarkable in its mathematical rigor. It's nothing innovative. The Greeks did similar stuff.

These are just crystallographers who, like many other practical scientists, think that when they run across some mathematics, that they were the first to invent it.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

That would be improbable. As the article specifically mentions, the buildings are covered in patterns because of Islamic restrictions on making artwork depicting living things.

[rickdylan]

Slammite society reached its zenith somewhere around 1200. Then, the guy in charge of the most major power in the slammite world burned the beards off of four of Chengis Khan's ambassadors and sent them back to Chengis Khan that way to show Chengis Khan how bad he was. It's been a downhill trip ever since then.

[El Gato]

Joshua Socolar, a Duke university physicist, said it is unclear whether the mediaeval Islamic artisans fully understood the mathematical properties of the patterns they were making.

Most likely they didn't. I often produce similar designs while doodling, and I apply Penrose discoveries when I do so.

If they did have such knowledge, and didn't acquire it before Mo's time, they probably stole it from the Hindus in India, just as they stole much of their other so called "achievements" in math. (The pre Mo Arabs were good mathmeticians and astronomers too, which is why many star names are Arabic, such as Alderaan (no longer commonly used, except in Star Wars), Aldebaran and Betelgeuse.)

[Capt. Tom]

OK class if you have 10 infidels and you behead 8 how many infidels are left?

None.
They will get the message there is only one God, and Muhammad is his prophet.

Muslim math has worked that way for 1400 years. -Tom

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Some mosques were based on Byzantine models; others weren't. Advice for some freepers here: give credit when and where credit is due.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Alderaan and Aldebaran are two alternative names for one star system (it could be a multiple star star system, but it looks as though it is a single star with the eye and simple telescopes).

[El Gato]

I am sure there were a few other things that we adopted but math seems to be their biggest contribution to civilization.

Much of their math, including the concept of zero and what we call Arabic numbers, was stolen from the Hindus, whom they conquered, and ruled until the Brits came along.

[ohioWfan]

There were brilliant medieval Islamic philosophers who rivaled those in Europe, and Baghdad was their base.

This isn't surprising at all.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Were the moors more liberal in their interpretation of Islam than their cousins in Baghdad or Saudi? Seems to me the influence of Christian culture from the north may have had an impact where the Spanish moors were not as strict in their faith as other parts of the empire.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

A lot of freepers here don't seem willing to recognize that Muslims did contribute to science.

[Shimmer128]

did contribute a lot to global society

LOL, depends on what you call "a lot" I guess.

[edpc]

That picture looks like they had one of these.......

Big deal.....so did I. I got it as a Christmas present when I was a kid and was totally bored with it in about an hour.

[marsh_of_mists]

Once they started focusing on converting the world to Islam, at pain of death, they began their own destruction.

That would mean that they began their own destruction the minute Mohammed and his followers attacked and converted the city of Mecca. Islam has had a tendency to be at war with neighboring civilizations from the very beginning. Don't let yourselves be fooled! So their architects were good at architecture and their mathematicians at math at one point. In the meantime, their sheikhs were leading invading armies riled up by the preaching of their imams.

Furthermore, the Islamic world's a big place. Which Islamic culture are we talking about here? Arabian? Andalusian? Persian? Turkish? Mameluk Egypt? The Persians have tended to be more advanced than most others, the Arab conquerors building upon the already 1000 year old Zoroastrian Persian civilization. But the Ottoman Turks? That's another story.

[paulat]

They had zero inventions.

I hope you are being WONDERFULLY ironic...

...I will post later to see if you are....

[LibWhacker]

That's right. To say they made a "stunning mathematical breakthrough" is ludicrous. It's like saying that Prada or Gucci, or any of those catwalk airheads, mathematically understand their designs. It's laughable. They paint lines on cloth -- or rock -- as the case may be.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

[El Gato]

I have no doubt that at one point Neanderthals were better at something--hunting, fire-building--than my remote ancestors.

Some of your, and my, ancestors likely *were* Neanderthals. Mine at least.

Besides, my wife tells me I look like a rather large Neanderthal, but less hairy.