CONTENTS

 

Foreword

Preface

INTRODUCTION MOTION AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN GEOMETRY

CHAPTER I: THE PROPERTIES OF THE CIRCLE

INTRODUCTION

1. The concept of homothety

2. Euclid, Pappus and Ibn al-Haytham: on homothety

3. Ibn al-Haytham and homothety as a point by point transformation

4. History of the text

MATHEMATICAL COMMENTARY

TRANSLATED TEXT: On the Properties of Circles

CHAPTER II: THE ANALYTICAL ART IN THE TENTH TO ELEVENTH CENTURIES

INTRODUCTION

1. The rebirth of a subject

2. Analytical art: discipline and method

3. The analytical art and the new discipline: ‘The Knowns’

4. History of the texts

On Analysis and Synthesis

The Knowns

I. ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS: MATHEMATICAL METHOD AND DISCIPLINE

MATHEMATICAL COMMENTARY

1. The double classification of Analysis and Synthesis

Preliminary propositions

Analysis and synthesis in arithmetic

Analysis and synthesis in geometry

Analysis and synthesis in astronomy

Analysis in music

2. Applications of analysis and synthesis in number theory and in geometry

Number theory

Perfect numbers

Two indeterminate systems of equations of the first degree

Geometrical problems

Problem in plane geometry

Problem solved with the help of transformations

Construction of a circle to touch three given circles

Auxiliary problem

Geometrical commentary on the problem

Algebraic commentary on the auxiliary problem

TRANSLATED TEXT: On Analysis and Synthesis

II. THE KNOWNS: A NEW GEOMETRICAL DISCIPLINE

INTRODUCTION

MATHEMATICAL COMMENTARY

1. Properties of position and of form and geometrical transformations

2. Invariant properties of geometrical loci and geometrical transformations

TRANSLATED TEXT: On the Knowns

III: ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS: EXAMPLES OF THE GEOMETRY OF TRIANGLES

1. On a geometrical problem: Ibn Sahl, al-Sijzī and Ibn al-Haytham

2. Distances from a point of a triangle to its sides

3. History of the texts

3.1. On a Geometrical Problem

3.2. On the Properties of the Triangle

TRANSLATED TEXTS:

On a Geometrical Problem

On the Properties of the Triangle in Regard to Height

CHAPTER III: IBN AL-HAYTHAM AND THE GEOMETRISATION OF PLACE

HISTORY OF THE TEXT

TRANSLATED TEXT: On Place

APPENDIX: THE ARS INVENIENDI: THĀBIT IBN QURRA AND AL-SIJZĪ

I. THĀBIT IBN QURRA: AXIOMATIC METHOD AND INVENTION

II. AL-SIJZĪ: THE IDEA OF AN ARS INVENIENDI

1. Introduction

2. A propaedeutic to the ars inveniendi

3. The methods of the ars inveniendi and their applications

3.1. Analysis and point-to-point transformation

3.2. Analysis and variation of one element of the figure

3.3. Analysis and variation of two methods of solution of a single problem

3.4. Analysis and variation of lemmas

3.5. Analysis and variation of constructions carried out using the same figure

3.6. Variations on a problem from Ptolemy

3.7. Variations on the same problem from Ptolemy in other writings by al-Sijzī

4. Analysis and synthesis: variation of the auxiliary constructions

5. Two principal methods of the ars inveniendi

III. HISTORY OF THE TEXTS

3.1. Book by Thābit ibn Qurra for Ibn Wahb on the Means of Arriving at Determining the Construction of Geometrical Problems

3.2. To Smooth the Paths for Determining Geometrical Propositions, by al-Sijzī

3.3. Letter of al-Sijzī to Ibn Yumn on the Construction of an Acute-angled Triangle

3.4. Two Propositions from the Ancients on the Property of Heights of an Equilateral Triangle: Ps-Archimedes, Aqāṭun, Menelaus

TRANSLATED TEXTS:

1. Book of Abū al-Ḥasan Thābit ibn Qurra for Ibn Wahb on the Means of Arriving at Determining the Construction of Geometrical Problems

2. Book of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jalīl al-Sijzī to Smooth the Paths for Determining Geometrical Propositions

3. Letter of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Jalīl <al-Sijzī> to the Physician Abū ‘Alī Naẓīf ibn Yumn on the Construction of the Acute-angled Triangle from Two Unequal Straight Lines

4. Two Propositions of the Ancients on the Property of the Heights of an Equilateral Triangle: Pseudo-Archimedes, Aqāṭun, Menelaus

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

I. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī:
Ibn al-Haytham’s critique of the notion of place as envelope

II. Al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham and Muḥammad ibn al-Haytham:
the mathematician and the philosopher – On place

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEXES

Index of names

Subject index

Index of works

Index of manuscripts