Mohamad Ainan Mohamad Anual. 12258500. MATH301 Take-Home Test 3 Question 2.

MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC MATHEMATICS: OPERATING TRIGONOMETRY WITH DEVICES. Introduction. Since the time of modern sine table from Aryabhata and Hipparchus' Chords in a Circle in Ptolemy's Almagest, trigonometry is a field of table-generation (and table-compilation), valueapproximation and diagram-driven derivation1. Medieval Islamic mathematicians are among those who involved in two processes. Most of the succeeded works will have improvements of earlier works2 and/or new approach3. Greek and Indian Mathematics sources (or achievements) were like goldmines for Muslims during Islamic Golden Age: they 'mined' it, 'refined' it and 'moulded' it into finer shapes and forms according to appropriate usage. The emerging and developing civilisation needs knowledge to go further, and Mathematics is one of the crucial fields to be invest upon. By the support (largely by money and recources) given from the Sultans or Caliphs, Muslims scholars were able to mine those valuable knowledge from far East and West. Many improvements found by Muslims and the applications of the findings were invented hand in hand. Trigonometry not only can be applied by tables or functions, the Muslims use it as what we call now a handheld watch.

Handheld Analog Computer. Where most devices were up to the task, one of it is the horary quadrant. The objective was simple: to check the time of a day by producing Sun's altitude. According to King 4, there are four types of Muslims astronomical instruments. Basically, the device works for a certain given latitude, while some were claimed to be 'universal' because it can be used along nearby latitudes and throughout the year. The universal one is sometimes a metal plate with a shape of circular edge of a quadrant drawn on
1 2 3 4 As in Spherical and Plane Trigonometry. As Abu l-Wafa did for Ptolemy's work on approximation of Sine1. From Al-Samaw'al, about treating a circle as a 480 parts, unlike 360 as Ptolemy's did. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrant_(instrument), Quote 'Types of quadrants'.

one side. The circular edge AG is divided into six parts as picture below. There are six circular arcs (B, C, D, E, F and G) drawn cutting the edge AG, determining six seasonal day hours.

The quadrant will work when OG side is tilted from the orientation above to be parallel to Sun's altitude. Then a string with a bead (in this case ON) will always form a straight line perpendicular to the horizon thanks to gravity. H is the altitude of Sun which in turn equal to angle AON. Thus, in this occasion, the time is 6 hours after sunrise or before sunset. This methodology of finding time certainly a convenience for a traveler whose suddenly lost track of the time in certain place during the day. The success of this technique lies on the triangle inside the circle. As figure above, the bead will touch the circumference ONG, forming right angle triangle with the diameter (OG) as the hypotenuse. For another time observed, the bead N will formed a triangle inside respective circular arcs. For example, when N touches the arc OE, the hypotenuse of the triangle will extend as the arc OE complete itself to be an extended semicircle outside the quadrant. Let's have a look at another example. Suppose we consider another time on the day like following figure. The bead line will now be a new line OX which touches arc OC for T=2 hours. In this case, the time is two hours after sunrise or before sunset. In triangle OGN, angle OGN =H, then let the radius of the quadrant is 1. The length ON is sine of H or ON=sinH

For the new hour (semicircle OXCJ), the triangle OXJ's angle OJX = h, where h is the current Sun's altitude. Thus, OX=ON=OJsinh. Furthermore, the angle OJC in triangle OJC is equal to T, or time of day in hours. That will make OC=1=OJsinT. Thus, ON=sinh/sinT and resulting the following expression when we set ON equal to each other (ON=sinH and ON=sinh/sinT): sin h=sin H sin T .

Polar Coordinates-Powered-'Hour Table'. Another example of trigonometry application in physical devices can be seen by a work from an astrolabist named Nastulus. This device shares the same objective with horary quadrant but the technique is different. Instead of using the altitude of Sun to find the time, his device was using date of the day to find time. When the day and month is specified, the reading of the time can be produced by knowing the altitude of the Sun. The indicator will intercept with several oval-shaped curve lines which in turn giving the time on given altitude. This method will give the time in advance since the indicator intercept with all the oval curves when the date was specified. For mornings the working for hours is from the center outward. On the other hand, the evenings (hours before sunset) work inward. The following figure is the replica of the device by Nastulus. It is consists of a circle plane which

inscribed on it two kinds of circle and one kind of oval curves. The outmost circle is for months with their days, started with June at the upper part and end with May counter clockwise. The arrangement is due to the indication of Vernal equinox on the right hand side of the plate, Summer soltice on the top, Winter soltice on the bottom and Autumnal equinox at the left side.

The second circle is a listing of all constellations during the time. Another important part of the device is the indicator which engraved the altitude of Sun from horizon. The indicator can be move to specified date of which the time resquested. At the middle part of the plate is the oval curves which serve as the hour indicator. While the device working is according to the same law as the previous equation, it still works in different approach. For a specific value T, we can get another value of h which intercepted along the indicator for a certain day. This indicated that he would have listed all h values measured from the center for a list of time for each day, before he plotted those on the device. As Glen5 said, So, in effect Nastulus was plotting contour curves of a double-argument function in polar coordinates!

5 Glen Van Brummelen(2009), The Mathematics of The Heavnes and The Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry, Princeton University Press, page 212.

Conclusion. The Golden Age of Islam is the time where trade, conquest and knowledge become a need. The importance of Silk Road become apparent when the traders need time, date and direction to plan a trip. The religious need also driven the development since during travel, Muslims need a tool to tell about time and direction (to Makkah) to pray. Both devices are among the signs of Muslim Mathematician ingenuity towards trigonometry. By understanding the concept and pattern of Sun, they rigorously develop devices which computing some trigonometry calculations without doing crumbersome work and giving the applicable and practical result. It is important field for Muslims to develop it further for it helps them to understand more about the universe and utilise the understanding into a good use. Perhaps the necessity to know time precisely was driven by a chapter named al-Asr (Time) from Quran6 which read:

By time (1). Indeed, mankind is in loss (2). Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience (3). 7 Reference:
Quadrant, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrant_(instrument), Quote 'Types of quadrants'. Glen Van Brummelen(2009), The Mathematics of The Heavnes and The Earth: The Early History of Trigonometry, Princeton University Press. Surat al-Asr (The Declining Day) , http://quran.com/103. Quran:103.

6 Quran:103. 7 http://quran.com/103.