Mathematics and arts: Connections between theory and practice in the medieval Islamic world
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Mathematics and arts: Connections between theory and practice in the medieval Islamic world
zbMATH Open document ID: 0963.01003
author: Alpay Özdural
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 2001-06-25T00:00:00Z
review text: The author gives a detailed description (and, in the appendix, a preliminary Arabic text) of a geometric text (whose compilation he attributes to a student of the 10th Cent. mathematician Abu'l Wafā al Būzjānī) which reports his discussions with artisans (probably makers of mosaics) about the construction of a large square from smaller squares (or the inverse problem) by cutting and pasting. The resulting figures as bases for tilings give very pleasing results and occasionally use nontrivial mathematics, also in the disproof of some constructions used by artisans. A second part deals with a later Persian manuscript, of which a complete edition and translation is promised, and which deals not only with squares but also with pentagons and decagons and the related star polygons. He concludes that the artisans engaged in creating the outstanding tilings of Islamic art never acquired the geometric knowledge required for their craft but continued to pick the brains of professional mathematicians.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A30
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 52C20
zbMATH DE Number: 1496592
reviewed by: Heinrich Guggenheimer
MaRDI profile type: Publication
OpenAlex ID: W1990246371
cites work: Q5732604
cites work: Practical Arabic Mathematics: Measuring the Muqarnas by al-K¯ash¯i
cites work: Q3137009
cites work: Q4284683
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cites work: Q3234138
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cites work: The Arithmetic of Abū'l-Wafā'
cites work: Q4053569
cites work: Q4099569
DOI: 10.1006/HMAT.1999.2274
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1496592