The study of geometry according to al-Sakhāwī (Cairo, 15th c) and al-Muḥibbī (Damascus, 16th c) (Q2883426)

The author analyzes and compares two biographical dictionaries by the authors mentioned in the title covering the ninth through fifteenth centuries and the eleventh through seventeenth centuries to find out what was being taught in several of the centers of learning of the Arab world as far as geometry is concerned. It turns out that this teaching was happening within larger frameworks of learning, encompassing many other disciplines, in particular that mathematics and logic was taught in conjunction with religious sciences. The study also informs about the geography of learning, and the movements between different regions of the Islamic world, information that does not agree with the statements made by ``other, often highly trusted authors such as Ibn Khaldūn.'' In particular, the latter's ``comments on the decline of teaching mathematics and philosophy are not born out by the biographies presented by al-Sakhāwī.''NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1236.01002].