Reading Questions and Preview Problems for Math 128

Section/Material Reading Questions

Reading Questions Set 20
Berggren 5.6

 0. Please bring a scientific calculator to class on Wednesday.
1. What is the first/preliminary step in al-Biruni's method of calculating the radius of the earth?
2. What is the main theorem he uses in the determination of the radius of the earth?
3. Did he actually use his method? If so where and what value did he come up with?
4. What is the advantage of al-Biruni's method over more ancient ones?
5. Did you understand everything about this method?

Reading Questions Set 19
Berggren 5.5

 1. Write down the law of sine.
2. What application of the sine law from Nasir al-Din's work is given in this section?
3. From where is the "usual rule" for calculating the height of a triangle taken?
4. Do you have any difficulty with the proof of the sine law and the applications that follow? Does anything need clarification?

Reading Questions Set 18
Berggren 5.4

 1. What mathematician may be regarded as the first to have calculated the modern trig functions?
2. Write down the addition formula (or theorem) for the sine function in modern notation.
3. What was the equivalent of the addition formula for the sine in Almagest?
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 17
Berggren 5.2

 1. What was the main contribution of Muslim mathematicians to trigonometry?
2. What is the main difference between original definitions of the 6 trig functions and the modern definitions of the same functions?
3. How were the Tangent and Cotangent functions originally defined?
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 16
Berggren 5.1

 1. Where and when are the first traces of the subject of trigonometry found? What science was it most connected to?
2. What is the meaning and evolution of the term "Almagest"
3. Explain the meanings of the numbers on 14th row of the table on page 157 (1st ed page 129)
4. What does it mean to solve a triangle?
5. How does Nasir al-Din al-Tusi use a chord table to solve a right triangle all angles and one side are known?
6. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 15
Berggren 4.9

 1. How many types of cubic equations did Omar Khayyam classify? How many of those can be solved by Euclidean methods and how many by conic sections?
2. What are the possible number of roots for a cubic equation? What remarks did Khayyam make about possible number of roots of a cubic equation?
3. Did he explain his solutions using algebraic symbols?
4. Express the statement "cube and a number equal sides" as a cubic equation.
5. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 14
Berggren 4.6 & Video Lesson

 1. Who is the first mathematician to develop algebra of expressions containing higher powers of an unknown?
2. According to the rules of exponents, what is x^m*x^n equal to (as a single power of x )
3. What is the simplified form of -a-(-b) ?
4. Write down the equivalents of the following terms as powers of x:   mm,   mc,   pm,   pmc 
5. Convert the expression "mal cube and 2 mals less 3 units" to a polynomial in x. 
6. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification? Did you watch the video, did it help?

Reading Questions Set 13
Berggren 4.5

 1. Who is the Muslim mathematician whose epithet is "the Egyptian calculator" 
2. In what way does Abu Kamil's  work on algebra go beyond  that of al-Khwarizmi?
3. Give an example to show the usefulness of the rule sqrt(a)/sqrt(b) = sqrt(a/b).
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 12
Berggren 4.4

Note: There is a typo in Fig. 5. In the rectangle labeled as "roots" should be equal to px (rather than p)

1. What is a difference between Thabit b. Qurra's work on algebra and that of al-Khwarizmi?
2. What are the modern algebraic equivalents of the following terms (in symbols)
      a) root(thing)  b) roots  c) number of roots   d) mal
3.In proving his solutions to quadratic equations, Thabit uses two theorems from Elements. Write the statement of one of the theorems.
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 11
Berggren 4.1-4.3

 1. Tell me something interesting, surprising or striking from the video on Algebra 
2. What is the reason, many scholars believe, for the Greek emphasis on geometry? 
3. What are the meanings of the Arabic words "al-jabr" and "al-muqabala"?
4. Translate the following sentence to a symbolic algebraic equation: "mal equals 5 roots and 3" (you can write x^2 to denote x² )
5. What distinguished al-Khwarizmi (and his followers) from earlier mathematicians who worked on algebraic problems?
6. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification?

Reading Questions Set 10
Berggren 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9(only p. 99 from 3.7 and 111 from 3.9)

 1. Section 3.7 discusses a problem from geometrical optics. What is this problem called in modern literature? What medieval Islamic scholar's name is attached to this problem?
2. What aspect of Islamic civilization does section 3.8 talk about and how is it related to mathematics?
3. Where are the problems/constructions (1-5) at the end of the section taken from (the name of the book/treatise and the author)?
4. What sorts of other constructions does this treatise contain?
5. In 3.9, Berggren gives another example of a misattribution of a mathematical theorem. What is it?
6. Do you understand the problems (constructions) 1-4 at the end of the section?

Reading Questions Set 9
Berggren 3.5 and 3.6

 1. Why does the ability to trisect an angle imply the construction of a regular nonagon?
2. Who discovered a method to trisect an angle without using "moving geometry" (vergings)?
3. Why was it useful for instrument makers to know how to construct hyperbolas?
4. Who invented a proof for the area of a segment of a parabola to rescue the family's scientific reputation?
5. Do you understand Ibrahim b. Sinan's constructions of a parabola and a hyperbola?

Reading Questions Set 8
Berggren 3.4

 1. What was the problem with Archimedes' construction of a regular heptagon that Abul-Jud complained about?
2. What is the method of analyis? What is the method of synthesis.
3. What are the major steps (not details) of Abu Sahl's analysis for the construction of a regular heptagon?
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification? Did you watch the video? Did it help?

Reading Questions Set 7
Berggren 3.1-3.3

 1. What are the properties of Euclid's straightedge and compass?
2. Why does Euclid bother showing that a collapsible compass can transfer lengths like a rigid compass does?
3. What are the main Greek sources of geometry for Islamic mathematicians?
4. What is a conic section? What is a sypmtom of a conic section?
5. Was there anything confusing or unclear to you in this section?

Reading Questions Set 6
Berggren 2.8

 1. Write at least 3 rules of Islamic inheritance law.
2. Why do you think the author makes the comment in parantheses in the second paragraph on page 73?
3. What is zakat?
4. What is shahadah?
5. Did you understand all of the calculations in this section?

Reading Questions Set 5
Berggren 2.6 (again)

 1.  In the algorithm finding the square root of a number N, if r is the integer part of the answer and if u/v is the fractional part, what are u and v in terms of N and r?
2.  In finding/justifying the fractional part of the approximation, what did they effectively assume about the square root function? (without using the modern terminology)
3.  Al-Kashi's instruction that "double A, the previous digit of the root, (multiply by 10) then put the digit B next to it and multiply by B" is based on an algebraic identity. What is that identity?

Reading Questions Set 4
Berggren 2.6

 1. From where (the author and the book) is the algorithm presented in 2.6 to find approximate square root of an integer taken?
2. Why does al-Kashi start by dividing the digits of the radicand into groups of two (that he called cycles)?
3. Suppose you want to find the square root of 82119 using this method. What would be the first (highest order) digit of the answer and why?
4. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification? Did you watch the video? Did it help?

Reading Questions Set 3
Berggren 2.4 and 2.5

 1. Who seems to have invented the decimal fractions? When does the decimal point first appear in history?
2. When did Europeans start using decimal fractions? (Until they found Miftah in 1948, modern researchers thought that Stevin was the inventor.)
3. What are the contributions of Muslim mathematicians to the sexagesimal system?
4. What is the method of levelling used in sexagesimal multiplication?
5. Was there anything in this section that was not clear to you needing clarification? Did you watch the videos? Did they help?

Reading Questions Set 2
Berggren Chp 2, sections 1 and 2

 1. What exactly are the contributions of Hindus and Muslims to the modern number system (called the Hindu-Arabic system)? Be specific and explain     each civilization's contributions separately.
2. How was the notion of zero in that system/time different from the modern notion of zero? Arabic word "sifr" is the source of two modern     mathematical/technical terms. What are those?
3. What was the earliest Arabic work that explained the Hindu number system?
4.  Did you have any trouble understanding any of the operations described in 2.2? Does any of them require clarification?
    Did you watch the videos? Did they help?

Reading Questions Set 1

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Berggren Preface & Chp 1

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Preface to First Ed

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Intro to the Translation of Miftah al-Hisab

1. What are the sections called "Islamic Dimensions" at the end of chapters 2,3,4, and 6 about?

2. Berggren says a book titled "History of Mathematics in Medieval Islam" cannot be written yet. Why not?

3. What are some obstacles to modern scholars who want to study scientific works of medieval Muslim scientists that exist in libraries in various parts of the Muslim world.

4. How is it that there are large collections of Arabic manuscripts in European libraries?

5. What happened in 30 years between the publication of the first edition of the Episodes (1986) and the second edition (2016)?

6. According to Berggren, what are some major contributions of the Islamic Civilization to mathematics between 750 and 1450?

7. When was the manuscript copy of Miftah al-Hisab that Prof. Aydin is using for translation written? When was Miftah originally written?

8. Tell me something interesting or important about each one of the 4 Muslim scientists described in this chapter.