Ideas of Calculus in Islam and India

Author(s): Victor J. Katz

Source: Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Jun., 1995), pp. 163-174
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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ARTIC LE S
IdeasofCalculusin Islamand India
VICTOR J. KATZ

ofColumbia
ofthe District
University
DC 20008
Washington,

Introduction
Isaac Newtoncreatedhis versionofthecalculusduringtheyearsfromabout 1665 to
1670. One of Newton'scentralideas was thatof a powerseries,an idea he believed
decimalexpansionsofarithmetic
he had inventedoutoftheanalogywiththeinfinite
[9, Vol. III, p. 33]. Newton,ofcourse,was aware ofearlierworkdone in solvingthe
area problem,one of the centralideas of whatwas to be the calculus,and he knew

well that the area under the curve y = xn between x = 0 and x = b was given by
in the
bn+1/ (n + 1). (This rule had been developed by several mathematicians

1630s, includingBonaventuraCavalieri,Gilles Persone de Roberval,and Pierrede

Newtonwas able
Fermat.)By developingpowerseriesto representvariousfunctions,
the
to use thisbasic ruleto findtheareas undera wide varietyofcurves.Conversely,
use of the area formulaenabled him to developpower series.For example,Newton
developedthe power series for y = arcsinx, in effectby definingit in termsof an
area and usingthe area formula.He thenproducedthe powerseriesforthe sine by
solvingthe equation y = arcsinx for x = siny by inversionof the series. What
Newtondid notknow,however,was thatboththe area formula-whichhe believed
had been developed some 35 yearsearlier-and the power series forthe sine had
been knownfor hundredsof years elsewherein the world.In particular,the area
formulahad been developed in Egypt aroundthe year A.D. 1000 and the power
had been developedin
seriesforthesine,as well as forthecosineand thearctangent,
century.It is the developmentof these two ideas
India, probablyin the fourteenth
thatwill be discussedin thisarticle.
Egypt,however,we will firstreviewthe
Beforegoingback to eleventh-century
argumentused bothby Fermatand Robervalin workingout theirversionofthe area
formulain 1636. In a letterto Fermatin Octoberofthatyear,Robervalwrotethathe
had been able to find the area under curves of the form y = xk by using a
formula-whosehistoryin the Islamicworldwe will trace-for the sumsof powers
of the naturalnumbers:"The sum of the square numbersis alwaysgreaterthanthe
thirdpartof the cube whichhas forits rootthe rootof the greatestsquare,and the
same sumof the squareswiththe greatestsquareremovedis less thanthe thirdpart
of the same cube; the sum of the cubes is greaterthanthe fourthpartof the fourth
powerand withthegreatestcube removed,less thanthefourthpart,etc." [5,p. 221].
In otherwords,findingthe area of the desiredregiondependson the formula
n-i
E ik
i=l1

nk+1

<

k+ 1 <

n
i=l

163

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164

MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

Fermatwroteback thathe alreadyknewthisresultand,like Roberval,had used it

to determinethe area underthe graphof y = xk overthe interval[0,xo]. Bothmen
saw thatif the base intervalwas divided into n equal subintervals,
each of length
a rectanglewhoseheightis the y-coordinate
ofthe
xo/ n, and ifovereach subinterval
rightendpointwas erected(see FIGURE 1), then the sum of the areas of these N
circumscribed
rectanglesis
xk
x
x0 x0~
nk n

(2 0X
0

ko

nk

(nx)k k x0
n

nk

k+1 (
X0

k?2kk?

nk

Similarly,theycould calculatethe sum of the areas of the inscribedrectangles,

those whose heightis the y-coordinate
of the leftendpointof the corresponding
if
A
In
is
the
area
under
the curvebetween0 and xo, then
subinterval. fact,
xk?1

XO
nk+

(lk + 2k( +

k?i

*+

(n-1)k)

<AX<

o
(lk +2
nk+

k+

k)
+n

The difference
betweenthe outerexpressionsof thisinequalityis simplythe area of
are fixed,Fermat
the rightmost
circumscribed
rectangle.Because xo and yo=
knewthatthedifference
couldbe made less thananyassignedvalue simplyby taking
n sufficiently
large.It followsfromtheinequalitycitedby Robervalthatboththearea
A and the value xk+1/(k+1)=xoyo/(k+1)
are squeezed between two values
whose difference
approaches0. Thus Fermatand Robervalfoundthatthe desired
area was xoyo/(k + 1).

xO 2xo 3xo
n
n n

nxo
n
FIGURE 1

The obviousquestionis how eitherof these two men discoveredformulasforthe

sumsofpowers.But at present,thereis no answerto thisquestion.There is nothing
extanton thisformulain theworksof Robervalotherthanthelettercited,and all we
have fromFermaton this topic,in lettersto Marin Mersenneand Roberval,is a
in termsof triangular
generalstatement
numbers,pyramidalnumbers,and the other
numbersthatoccuras columnsof Pascal's triangle.(We notethatFermat'sworkwas
done some twentyyears beforePascal publishedhis materialon the arithmetical
triangle;the trianglehad, however,been publishedin manyversionsin China,the
Middle East, NorthAfrica,and Europe over the previous600 years. See [4], pp.
191-192; 241-242; 324-325.) Here is whatFermatsays:"The last side multipliedby

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VOL. 68, NO. 3, JUNE 1995

165

the nextgreatermakestwicethe triangle.The last side multipliedby the triangleof

the nextgreaterside makesthreetimesthe pyramid.The last side multipliedby the
pyramidofthenextgreaterside makesfourtimesthetriangulotriangle.
And so on by
the same progressionin infinitum"
[5, p. 230]. Fermat'sstatementcan be written
usingthe modemn
notationforbinomialcoefficients
as
n(n

k )(k

+ 1)(n+k)

We can derivefromthisformula
foreach k in turn,beginningwithk = 1, an explicit
formulaforthe sumofthe kthpowersby usingthepropertiesofthe Pascal triangle.
For example,if k = 2, we have
(2

(3

j=2 (2)

=3 E j(2
j=2

3E

3E

i=l

i=1

Therefore,

2n
(n+2)(n+1)
23
2

i=1

n
i-i

and
n

E i2

i= 1

n3+3n2+2?n

n2+n
2

_2r33+3n2+un

n3

n2 n
2?6

In general,the sumformulais of the form

n
i=1

nk?1

ikk

nk

1+ 2 +p(n),

wherep(n) is a polynomialin n ofdegreeless thank, and Roberval'sinequalitycan

be provedforeach k. We do not knowif Fermat'sderivationwas like thatabove,
however,because he onlystatesa sumformulaexplicitly
forthecase k = 4 and gives
no otherindicationof his procedure.

Sumsof IntegerPowersin Eleventh-Century

Egypt
The formulas
forthesumsofthe kthpowers,however,at leastthroughk = 4, as well
as a versionof Roberval'sinequality,were developed some 650 yearsbeforethe
mid-seventeenthcenturyby Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham
(965-1039), knownin Europe as Alhazen.The formulasforthe sumsof the squares
and cubes were statedeven earlier.The one forsquares was statedby Archimedes
around250 B.C. in connectionwithhis quadratureoftheparabola,whilethe one for
cubes, althoughit was probablyknownto the Greeks,was firstexplicitlywritten
downbyAryabhata
in India around500 [2, pp. 37-38]. The formulaforthe squaresis
not difficult
to discover,and the one for cubes is virtuallyobvious,given some
experimentation.
By contrast,the formulaforthe sum of the fourthpowers is not
obvious.If one can discovera methodfordetermining
thisformula,
one can discover

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MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

166

a methodfor determiningthe formulafor the sum of any integralpowers. Ibn

al-Haythamshowedin facthowto developtheformulaforthe kthpowersfromk = 1
to k = 4; all his proofswere similarin natureand easilygeneralizableto thediscovery
and proofofformulas
forthesumofanygivenpowersoftheintegers.Thathe did not
forthe
is probablydue to his needingonlythe formulas
stateanysuch generalization
second and fourthpowersto solve the problemin whichhe was interested:computing the volumeof a certainparaboloid.
describethe worldof
work,it is good to briefly
Beforediscussingibn al-Haytham's
Islamic science. (See [1] formore details.) During the ninthcentury,the Caliph
al-Ma'munestablisheda researchinstitute,
the House of Wisdom,in Baghdad and
invitedscholarsfromall partsof the caliphateto participatein the developmentof a
in Islam.These scientistsincludednotonlyMoslemArabs,butalso
scientific
tradition
to translate
amongothers.Theirgoals were,first,
Christians,
Jews,and Zoroastrians,
and scientific
worksfromGreece and India, and,
intoArabicthe best mathematical
second,by buildingon this base, to create new mathematicaland scientificideas.
Althoughthe House of Wisdomdisappearedafterabout two centuries,manyof the
rulersof the Islamic statescontinuedto supportscientistsin theirquest forknowledge, because theyfeltthatthe researchwould be of value in practicalapplications.
bornin Basra,nowin Iraq, was called to Egyptby
Thus it was thatibn al-Haytham,
the Caliph al-Hakimto workon a Nile controlproject.Althoughthe projectnever
ibn al-Haythamdid producein Egypthis mostimportant
came to fruition,
scientific
work,the Optics in seven books.The Optics was translatedinto Latin in the early
thirteenthcenturyand was studied and commentedon in Europe for several
Ibn al-Haytham'sfameas a mathematician
fromthe medieval
centuriesthereafter.
period to the presentchieflyrests on his treatmentof "Alhazen's problem,"the
surfaceat whichthe light
problemof findingthe pointor pointson some reflecting
book
fromone of twopointsoutsidethatsurfaceis reflectedto the other.In the fifth
of the Optics he set out his solutionsto this problemfor a varietyof surfaces,
spherical,cylindrical,and conical, concave and convex. His results,based on six
show that he was in frill
separatelyproved lemmas on geometricalconstructions,
and advancedgeometry
ofthe Greeks.
commandofboththe elementary
The centralidea in ibn al-Haytham's
proofof the sumformulaswas the derivation
of the equation
(n + 1)

ii

Eik

Eik+l

i=l

i=l1

ik

+
)1

()

he did notstatethisresultin generalform.He onlystatedit forparticular

Naturally,
integers,namely n = 4 and k = 1,2,3, but his prooffor each of those k is by
inductionon n and is immediatelygeneralizableto any value of k. (See [7] for
details.)We considerhis prooffork = 3 and n = 4:
(4 + 1)

(13 + 23 + 33 + 43) = 4(13 + 23 + 33 + 43) + 13 + 23 + 33 + 43

=

4-3

= 44 +

+ 4(13 + 23 + 33) + 13 + 23 + 33 + 43

(3 + 1)

(13 + 23 + 33) + 13 + 23 + 33 + 43

Because equation(*) is assumedtrueforn = 3,

(3 + 1)

(13 + 23 + 33) = 14 + 24 + 34 + (13 + 23 + 33) + (13 + 23) + 13.

ibn al-Haytham's
provedforn = 4. One can easilyformulate
Equation(*) is therefore
to give a proofforany k by inductionon n.
argumentin moderntenninology

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167

VOL. 68, NO. 3, JUNE 1995

Ibn al-Haythamnow uses his resultto derive formulasforthe sums of integral

powers.First,he provesthe sumformulasforsquaresand cubes:
+ )n
Ei2=?
(3
i-l=
13
n

<i3 =(

n?- 2

n~~~~~~4
n3
4 + 2

n()n + 1)n

- +2

-= 3 ?

n2

oftheanalogous
We will notdeal withtheseproofshere,butonlywiththederivation
himselfderivesthisresultonly
powers.Althoughibn al-Haytham
resultforthefourth
n. We will therefore
use moderntechniques
for n = 4, he assertsit forarbitrary
methodto deriveit forthatcase. We beginby usingthe
modeledon ibn al-Haytham's
forthe sumsof squaresand cubes to rewriteequation(*) in the form
formulas

i=n

p=l

i=l

i4 +

Pi4 +

i=1

i=1

i3+i=l

i=l

It thenfollowsthat
(n + 1)

ri

i=1

i4 +

i=1

(n +

Ei4=

i=1

4 ~E

i3

11.

i3+
i=1

4~

i2

E i2

)3-

i=l

i=1

- ) 43 4 nn+l)-i23+1)(

54- n

) (n + 2 )n(n + 1)n -

n+

) (n + 2 )

-.

Ibn al-Haythamstatedhis resultverballyin a formwe translateintomodernnotation

as
i

2 )[(

5)(

(5

3]

The resultcan also be writtenas a polynomial:

n

n
=

i= 1

n3
n44
5+ 2 + 33

---

It is clear thatthis formulacan be used as Fermatand Robervalused Roberval's

inequalityto showthat
a

lim

n -oo

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MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

Ibn al-Haythamused his resulton sums of integralpowersto performwhat we

wouldcall an integration.
In particular,
he appliedhis resultto determinethevolume
of the solid formedby rotatingthe parabola x = ky2 around the line x = kb2,
perpendicular
to theaxisoftheparabola,and showedthatthisvolumeis 8/ 15 ofthe
volume of the cylinderof radius kb2 and height b. (See FIGURE 2.) His formal
argumentwas a typicalGreek-style
exhaustionargumentusinga double reductioad
absurdum,but in essence his method involved slicing the cylinderand paraboloid into n disks,each of thicknessh = b/ n, and then addingup the disks.The
ith disk in the paraboloid has radius kb2- k(ih)2 and thereforehas volume
wh(kh2n2 - ki2h2)2 = wk2h5(n2 - i2)2. The totalvolumeof the paraboloidis thereforeapproximated
by
n-1

7-1

ik2h5

(n2

k2h5

i2)2

i=l

4
(n-2n2i2

i4).

i=l

(i-l)h?_yL____+

?__

___u

X=kb2
FIGURE 2

But since ibn al-Haythamknew the formulasforthe sums of integralsquares and

fourth
powers,he could calculatethat
1
~~~~ ~
~_14
8
1
8
1
,

(n4-2n2i2+i4)

-y (n-

1l)n 34+

i= 1

n= 15n n24-

3n4-

0n

that
and therefore

8(n -

n
1)n 4<

E(n2

-i2 )2<

~~~~8
-8n .n4.

i= 1

But the volume of a typicalslice of the circumscribing

cylinderis 7rh(kb)2)2irk2h5n4,and therefore
the totalvolumeof the cylinderis 7rk2h5n n4, while the
volumeof the cylinderless its "top slice" is 7rk2h5(n- 1)n4. The inequalitythen
showsthatthe volumeof the paraboloidis boundedbetween8/ 15 of the cylinder
less its top slice and 8/ 15 ofthe entirecylinder.Because the top slice can be made
as small as desiredby takingn sufficiently
large,it followsthatthe volumeof the
paraboloidis exactly8/ 15 of the volumeofthe cylinderas asserted.
Ibn al-Haytham's
formulaforthe sumoffourth
powersshowsup in otherplaces in
the Islamicworldoverthe nextfewcenturies.It appearsin theworkofAbu-l-Hasan
ibn Haydur(d. 1413), who lived in what is now Morocco,and in the workof Abu
Abdallahibn Ghazi (1437-1514), who also lived in Morocco.(See [3] fordetails.)
one also findsthe formulain The Calculator'sKey of Ghiyathal-Din
Furthermore,
and astronomer
whose mostproductive
Jamshidal-Kashi(d. 1429), a mathematician
nowin Uzbekistan,in thecourtofUlughBeg. We do
yearswere spentin Samarkand,

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169

VOL. 68, NO. 3, JUNE 1995

learned of the formulaor forwhat

not know,however,how these mathematicians
purposetheyused it.

India
Trigonometric
Seriesin Sixteenth-Century
India and theyare
The sumformulas
forintegralpowerssurfacein sixteenth-century
These power
used to developthe power series forthe sine, cosine,and arctangent.
(of about 1530), a
series appear in Sanskritverse in the Tantrasangraha-vyakhya
commentary
on a workby Kerala GargyaNilakantha(1445-1545) of some 30 years
earlier. Unlike the situationfor manyresultsof Indian mathematics,
however,a
detailed derivationof these power series exists, in the Yuktibhasa,a work in
regionofIndia. This latterwork
Malayalam,thelanguageofKerala,the southwestern
was writtenby Jyesthadeva
(1500-1610), who creditsthese series to Madhava,an
ofthe fourteenth
century.
Indianmathematician
Even thoughwe do notknowforsurewhetherMadhavawas thefirstdiscovererof
the series,it is clear thatthe series were knownin India long beforethe timeof
Newton.But whywere the Indians interestedin these matters?India had a long
traditionof astronomicalresearch,datingback to at least the middle of the first
millenniumB.C. The Indians had also absorbedGreek astronomicalworkand its
India by Alexander
associatedmathematics
duringand afterthe conquestofnorthern
the Greatin 327 B.C. Hence the Indiansbecame familiarwithGreektrigonometry,
and thengraduallyimprovedit by introducing
our sine,
based on the chordfunction,
learnedtrigonometry
fromIndia, introcosine,and tangent.Islamicmathematicians
duced theirown improvements,
and, afterthe conquest of northernIndia by a
Moslem armyin the twelfthcentury,broughtthe improvedversionback to India.
(See [4] formoredetails.)
withtrigonometry
of astronomy
The interaction
bringsan increasingdemandfor
wantedan accuratevalue for 7r (which comes
accuracy.Thus Indian astronomers
fromknowingthe arctangent
powerseries)and also accuratevalues forthe sine and
cosine (which comes fromtheirpower series) so they could use these values in
determiningplanetarypositions.Because a recent article [8] in this MAGAZINE
discussedthe arctangent
powerseries,we will hereconsideronlythe sine and cosine
series.
oftheIndianrulefordetermining
The statement
theseseriesis as follows:"Obtain
the arc [s] by itselfand then dividingby
the resultsof repeatedlymultiplying
2,3,4,... multipliedby the radius[p]. Writedown,below the radius(in a column)
to n = 2,4,6 in Sn/n!pn-1],and below
the even results[i.e. resultscorresponding
to n = 3,5,7, . .. in
the radius (in anothercolumn)the odd results[corresponding
sj n!p' - 1]. Afterwritingdowna numberof termsin each column,subtractthe last
termof eithercolumnfromthe one nextabove it,the remainderfromthe termnext
is made fromtheradiusin thefirstcolumn
above,and so on,untilthelast subtraction
the cosine
and fromthe arc in the second.The twofinalremaindersare respectively
and thesine,to a certaindegreeofapproximation."
[6, p. 3] These wordscan easilybe
translatedintothe formulas:

y=sins=s-

2!p

4+!p3

s3

s5

52n

+(-)

(2 )

2n-1
+p

s~~~~2n+1

+
+(-1)
s
(2 n pt1)
hps
5tpo
reduce to the standardpowerserieswhen p is takento be 1.)
(These formulas
+

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MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

1 70

to
The Indian derivationsof these resultsbegin withthe obviousapproximations
the cosine and sine forsmall arcs and then use a "pull yourselfup by our own
stepby step.The derivations
bootstraps"
approachto improvetheapproximation
also
a notionused in other aspects of Indian
make use of the notionof differences,
mathematics
as well. In our discussionof the Indian method,we will use modern
Indianideas.
notationto enable the readerto followthesesixteenth-century
We firstconsiderthe circleof FIGURE 3 witha smallarc a = AC AC. Fromthe
of trianglesAGC and OEB, we get
similarity
xl-x2

ae a

or p

--

Y2y-_Yl
Y

and

Xl-X2

a
Y2-Y

=p

In modern
if / BOF = 0 and / BOC = L AOB = dO,theseequationsamount
terms,

to

sin(O+ dO) - sin(O- dO) = YZ

2
_"

pd

cosf = 2cos 0 dO

and
cos(O + dO)-cos(O -do) =

=-

2p

=a

2pdsin

H=-2sin

HdO.

Now, supposewe have a smallarc s dividedinto n equal subarcs,witha = sl n.

did not. By
For simplicitywe take p = 1, althoughthe Indian mathematicians
results
we
the
sets
of
differences
for
the
get
following
repeatedly,
applying previous
the y's (FIGURE 4) (where yn= y = sins):
ztiY = Y71-Yn-1 =aXn
=
Yn-1 - Yn-2 =axnI
An-1Y
A2Y = Y2-Yl

= ax2

Aly = Yi - Yo = y

ax,.

A
a

~~C

G'

~~PY2
o

I~ I,
-

/- E

'

x5

xl

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

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X4 X3 X291

171

VOL. 68, NO. 3, JUNE 1995

the differences
Similarly,
forthe x's can be written

A -X =X,-Xix- I = -aY,I- I
-aY2
=
=
-aYi.
AIX X2-X1

A2x = x3-X2 =

We nextconsiderthe seconddifferences
on the y's:
A2Y

A1Y = Y2 - YI - YI + YO=

a(x2

x)

-a

2Yi.

In otherwords,the second difference

of the sines is proportional
to the negativeof
the sine. But since AI1y= YI, we can writethisresultas
= Y1-a 2yiA92Y
since
Similarly,
A3Y

A2Y = Y3 - Y2-

Y2 + Yi = a(x3

X2)

=-a

Y2)

it followsthat
A3Y= A2Y-a2

-a 2Y2

=Y 1-a2y

and, in general,that

Aj =y1-a 2y1-a 2 -a_2y9

2
But the sine equals the sumof its differences:
Y = Y,l= /\IY+ /\2Y+
= ny-

** +AnY1

[Y1 + (Y1 + Y2) + (YI + Y2 +

Y:3)

+ (Y1

+ Y2 +

+Y,n-Aa]2

thelargerthevalue of n, thebettereach of
Also,s/ n = YI a, or ny, = s. Naturally,
is. Therefore,
theseapproximations
y

s-

lim

[Y+

(YI

+(YI+Y2+

+Y2)+''

+Y11-01]

Nextwe add the differences

of the x's. We get
x, -x1 = -a(y1

But x,

x = cos s and xl
x

+ Y2 +

+Yn -

1. It thenfollowsthat

I-

lim - (Yi

Y2 +

+Y,n-1)

needed to approximate
To continuethe calculation,the Indian mathematicians
for x = cos s and
to get approximations
each y, and use these approximations
in turnis placed back in theexpressionsforx and
y = sins. Each new approximation
Note firstthat if y is small, yi can be
y and leads to a betterapproximation.
approximated
by is/ n. It followsthat
X

I1-

I1-

lim
n (-)[-+

11-->00nn
I
ri0
lim2+

n
'11

(n

I)s]

---+ +(n-1)]

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1 72

MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

|
J

limLs2 (n -1)n
2

= 1-

--oon

s2

Similarly,

y = s - Ilim = ss-

- + -

- +

lim 3[I1 + (I1+ 2 ) + (I1+ 2 + 3 ) +

100n

+(

lim ?-|n(1+2+
11-1

ru-i1

2
lim
r00? n

s s3

- +

(12+22+

-1))

+ ( n-1 )) ]

+ ( 1 +2 +
+(n

1)2)

Ei2

Ei
= -3

+ s+
n-)
.+(_+
(n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

n3

L2
1

i1i

32

s3

foreach yi. Note thatin the

for y and therefore
and thereis a new approximation
fromthe secondto the thirdlines of thiscalculationthe Indiansused ibn
transition
al-Haytham'sequation(*) forthe case k = 1. Althoughthe Indian mathematicians
did notreferto ibn al-Haythamor anyotherpredecessor,theydid explicitlysketcha
proofofthisresultin the generalcase and used it to showthat,forany k, the sumof
equal to nk? 1/ (k + 1). This
the kth powersof the firstn integersis approximately
line oftheabove calculationin thecases k = 1 and
resultwas used in thepenultimate
as discussedin [8].
k = 2 and in the derivationof thepowerseriesforthe arctangent
for sine and cosine, we now assume that yi
To improvethe approximation
(is/ n) - (is)3/ (6n3) in the expressionforx = cos s and use the sum formulain the
case k = 3 to get
x

1-

=1-

lim -[!-

oo n 6[

6n3

+ 2s-

4 [13 + 23 +
2 + lim
00~o
6n
2

1-2

+ (n-1)s

(n

+
s2

(2s)

6-

s4

S2

24

lim
1

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((n-1)s)31
6n3

VOL. 68, NO. 3, JUNE 1995

173

Similarly,
ibn al-Haytham's
formulaforthe case j = 3 and the sumformulaforthe

cases j = 3 and j = 4 lead to a new approximationfor y = sin s:

s3

s[3

=s 6S

F~

6 +lim

I6n

JiM

lim 6

C?-

=-6

C?6-

+_

6S5

(13+23)

i3

6nSJ
3

+6n 2S) 3

+***+

+ (13+23?+

+ (n-

[i(13 +23 +
E

i_

n3

+**+(6n3s3

5 [13+

S
=

1)3)(14

+(n-

6n3

)|

+ (n-1)3)
+2 4+

+(n-1))

120

as a correction
Because Jyesthadeva
considerseach new termin thesepolynomials
to thepreviousvalue,he understoodthatthe moretermstaken,the morecloselythe
polynomialsapproach the true values for the sine and cosine. The polynomial
can thus be continuedas far as necessaryto achieve any desired
approximations
The Indian authorshad thereforediscoveredthe sine and cosine
approximation.
powerseries!

Conclusion
How close did Islamic and Indian scholarscome to inventingthe calculus?Islamic
scholarsnearlydevelopeda generalformulaforfindingintegralsof polynomialsby
foranypolynomial
in whichthey
A.D. 1000-and evidentlycouldfindsucha formula
ofdegree
were interested.
in anypolynomial
But,it appears,theywere notinterested
higherthanfour,at least in any of the materialwhichhas so farcome down to us.
Indian scholars,on the otherhand,were by 1600 able to use ibn al-Haytham'ssum
formulaforarbitrary
in
integralpowersin calculatingpowerseriesforthe functions
whichtheywere interested.By the same time,theyalso knewhow to calculatethe
So some ofthe basic ideas of calculuswere knownin
differentials
ofthesefunctions.
Egyptand India manycenturiesbeforeNewton.It does not appear,however,that
eitherIslamicor Indianmathematicians
saw the necessityof connectingsome ofthe
Therewere apparently
only
disparateideas thatwe includeunderthe namecalcultus.
specificcases in whichtheseideas were needed.
There is no danger,therefore,
thatwe will have to rewritethe historytextsto
removethe statementthatNewtonand Leibniz inventedthe calculus.They were
ideas under the two
certainlythe ones who were able to combinemanydiffering

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174

MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

unifyingthemesof the derivativeand the integral,show the connectionbetween

tool we have today.But
them,and turnthe calculusintothe greatproblem-solving
whatwe do notknowis whethertheimmediatepredecessorsofNewtonand Leibniz,
includingin particularFermatand Roberval,learned of some of the ideas of the
throughsourcesofwhichwe are notnow aware.
Islamicor Indianmathematicians
of mathematicalknowledgefromone
The entire question of the transmission
withmore
cultureto anotheris a matterofcurrentresearchand debate.In particular,
medievalArabic manuscriptsbeing discoveredand translatedinto European lanideas can be bettertracedfromIraq and Iran
guages,therouteofsomemathematical
intoEgypt,thento Moroccoand on into Spain. (See [3] formoredetails.)Medieval
Spain was one of the meetingpointsbetweenthe older Islamicand Jewishcultures
and the emergingLatin-Christian
culture of Europe. Many Arabic works were
sometimesby Jewishscholarswho
century,
translatedthereintoLatinin the twelfth
also wroteworksin Hebrew. But althoughthereis no record,forexample,of ibn
al-Haytham'sworkon sumsof integralpowersbeing translatedat thattime,certain
century.
ideas he used do appear in bothHebrew and Latinworksof the thirteenth
And since the centralideas of his workoccurin the Indian material,thereseems a
good chance that transmissionto India did occur. Answersto the questions of
collectionsin Spain and the
will requiremuchmoreworkin manuscript
transmission
being done by scholarsat the Centre Nationalde
Maghreb,workthatis currently
RechercheScientifiquein Paris.Perhapsin a decade or two,we will have evidence
thatsome ofthe centralideas ofcalculusdid reachEurope fromAfricaor Asia.
on theoriginal
I wantto thanktherefereeforthoughtful
commentsand suggestions
Acknowledgement.
versionof thispaper.

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