UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

KOLEJ PERNIAGAAN
PROGRAM PENGURUSAN TEKNOLOGI
SEMESTER SEPTEMBER 2011/2012 (A111)

BJQK 1103
MATHEMATICS FOR TECHNOLOGY
MATHEMATICS SCHOLAR AND ITS CONTRIBUTIONS

PREPARED BY :
NAMA
MUHAMAD KHAIZUL HAFIZI BIN MOKHTAR

PREPARED TO :
PUAN FADHILAH BT MAT YAMIN

MATRIK

Algebra
Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Musa Al-Khawarizmi, was born at Khawarizm (Khiva,
Uzbekistan). He known as a Father of Algebra from the title of his work Hisab Al-Jabr
wal Muqabalah, The Book of Calculations, Restoration and Reduction. He gave the name
to that branch of mathematics. The exact dates of his birth and death are also unknown,
but it is established that he was appointed court astronomer under Al-Ma'amoun at
Baghdad through 813-833 and probably died around 840 A.D.
Al-Khwarizmis algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences. To
al-Khwarizmi we owe the world algebra, from the title of his greatest mathematical
work, Hisab al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabala. The book, which was twice translated into Latin, by
both Gerard of Cremona and Robert of Chester in the 12th century, works out several
hundred simple quadratic equations by analysis as well as by geometrical example. It also
has substantial sections on methods of dividing up inheritances and surveying plots of
land. It is largely concerned with methods for solving practical computational problems
rather than algebra as the term is now understood.
Al-Khwarizmi confined his discussion to equations of the first and second degrees. He
also wrote an important work on astronomy, covering calendars, calculating true
positions of the sun, moon and planets, tables of sines and tangents, spherical astronomy,
astrological tables, parallax and eclipse calculations, and visibility of the moon. His
astronomical work, Zij al-sindhind, is also based on the work of other scientists. As with
the Algebra, its chief interest is as the earliest Arab work still in existence in Arabic. His
most recognized work as mentioned above and one that is so named after him is the
mathematical concept Algorithm. The modern meaning of the word relates to a specific
practice for solving a particular problem. Today, people use algorithms to do addition and
long division, principles that are found in Al-Khwarizmis text written over 2000 years
ago. Al-Khwarizmi was also responsible for introducing the Arabic numbers to the West,
setting in motion a process that led to the use of the nine Arabic numerals, together with
the zero sign.

Calculus

Archimedes was born in 287 BC and died in 212 BC. He received his education in
Alexandria, Egypt. He has taught the calculus at there and he also considered as the
" Father of Calculus ". Before discussing the work covered in his book Measurement of
the Circle , we mention briefly a few of the other significant contributions which
Archimedes made to mathematics. He found the volumes of various "solids of
revolution" obtained by rotating a curve about a fixed straight line.
He computed the area of a segment of a parabola. He used a most ingenious argument
involving the construction of an infinite number of inscribed triangles which "exhausted"
the area of the parabolic segment. This is a most beautiful piece of mathematics. He
computed the area of an ellipse by essentially "squashing" a circle. He found the volume
and surface area of a sphere.
Archimedes gave instructions that his tombstone should have displayed on it a diagram
consisting of a sphere with a circumscribing cylinder. C H Edwards writes how Cicero,
while serving as quaestor in Sicily, had Archimedes' tombstone restored, and adds "The
Romans had so little interest in pure mathematics that this action by Cicero was probably
the greatest single contribution of any Roman to the history of mathematics."
He discussed properties of the "Archimedean spiral", which is defined as follows : the
distance from a fixed point O of any point P on the spiral is proportional to the angle
between OP and a fixed line through O. In his evaluation of areas involving the spiral he
anticipated methods of the calculus which were not developed until the seventeenth
century AD.

References

Ahmad, H. (n.d.). Muslim Contributions to Science, Philosophy and the arts.

B. Lynn Bodner. Constructing and Classifying Designs of Al-Andalus,
Mathematics Department, Monmouth University, retrieved at
http://mathematics.monmouth.edu/coursenotes/bodner/papers/2003/ISAMA03.htm
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