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.
Posted on 02/22/2007 6:15:51 PM PST by xcamel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Magnificently sophisticated geometric patterns in mediaeval Islamic architecture indicate their designers achieved a mathematical breakthrough 500 years earlier than Western scholars, scientists said on Thursday.
By the 15th century, decorative tile patterns on these masterpieces of Islamic architecture reached such complexity that a small number boasted what seem to be "quasicrystalline" designs, Harvard University's Peter Lu and Princeton University's Paul Steinhardt wrote in the journal Science.
Only in the 1970s did British mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose become the first to describe these geometric designs in the West. Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of interlocking units whose pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions, and possess a special form of symmetry.
"Oh, it's absolutely stunning," Lu said in an interview. "They made tilings that reflect mathematics that were so sophisticated that we didn't figure it out until the last 20 or 30 years."
Lu and Steinhardt in particular cite designs on the Darb-i Imam shrine in Isfahan, Iran, built in 1453.
Islamic tradition has frowned upon pictorial representations in artwork. Mosques and other grand buildings erected by Islamic architects throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere often are wrapped in rich, intricate tile designs setting out elaborate geometric patterns.
The walls of many mediaeval Islamic structures display sumptuous geometric star-and-polygon patterns. The research indicated that by 1200 an important breakthrough had occurred in Islamic mathematics and design, as illustrated by these geometric designs.
"You can go through and see the evolution of increasing geometric sophistication. So they start out with simple patterns, and they get more complex" over time, Lu added.
ISLAMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
While Europe was mired in the Dark Ages, Islamic culture flourished beginning in the 7th century, with achievements over numerous centuries in mathematics, medicine, engineering, ceramics, art, textiles, architecture and other areas.
Lu said the new revelations suggest Islamic culture was even more advanced than previously thought.
While travelling in Uzbekistan, Lu said, he noticed a 16th century Islamic building with decagonal motif tiling, arousing his curiosity as to the existence of quasicrystalline Islamic tilings.
The sophistication of the patterns used in Islamic architecture has intrigued scholars worldwide.
Emil Makovicky of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark in the 1990s noticed the relationship between these designs and a form of quasicrystalline designs. Makovicky was interested in particular in an 1197 tomb in Maragha, Iran.
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.
"It leads you to wonder whether they kind of got lucky," Socolar said in an interview. "But the fact remains that the patterns are tantalizingly close to having the structure that Penrose discovered in the mid-70s."
"And it will be a lot of fun if somebody turns up bigger tilings that sort of make a more convincing case that they understood even more of the geometry than the present examples show," Socolar said.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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
Some mosques were based on Byzantine models; others weren't. Advice for some freepers here: give credit when and where credit is due.
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).
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.
This isn't surprising at all.
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.
did contribute a lot to global society
LOL, depends on what you call "a lot" I guess.
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.
I hope you are being WONDERFULLY ironic...
...I will post later to see if you are....
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.
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.
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