Blog Post   Due 09^th

It is a very interesting to know where the custom of naming children come from in the Islamic world. The reading suggests that a Muslim family will name their children use some common names such as Muhammad, Husain, Thabit, etc.  Then what follows after the name is the “son-of so and so”, written as “ibn”.  It really helps people to identify the child’s family background. If we were to follow the tradition, we can name the child by using “the son of so and so” continuously and the child’s name can be really long.  

I think the work that al-Khwarizmi had done really made a significant contribution in the field of mathematics.  However, I didn’t know aside of being the father of algebra, he also had worked in the areas of geography and astronomy.  It was really important that he introduced the Hindu methods to the Islamic world.  Especially in his arithmetic work The Book of Addition and Subtraction according to the Hindu Calculation, he provided the very useful algorithm from the decimal positional system.  Another thing was his contribution on the science of cartography.  I had very little knowledge about al-Khwarizmi until I did my research on division and polynomials.  The reading suggested that he was also an astronomer.  By that time, ancient mathematicians could estimate the size of the earth by multiplying the length of one degree by 360 because they had known that the earth is spherical.  In addition, al-Khwarizmi’s contribution in assisting the construction of the world map by then.  He was able to use astronomical observations and computations to find the latitude and longitude of the earth.  No doubt he was such a wonderful mathematician and had left such a legacy for Islamic world. 

Although I am not familiar with the history of mathematics about the Islamic world, it is vey useful to learn this part of the history and be able to tell stories to my students.  The several great mathematicians and their great works have mentioned in this book are worth remembering.  However, it is challenging to pronounce their names correctly.  In addition, the names of the places are difficult to make connections for me as the cities were not in my knowledge of geography.  Telling the students about this part of the math history is actually where I can draw students’ attention after a lecture or maybe when they feel bored or tired.  However, I need to really work on it if I intend to do it in the front of the students.