3 - From Archimedes to Khayyam

Summary

In this chapter we concentrate on the fate of Archimedes' problem in one eminent work of Arabic science: Omar Khayyam's Algebra (eleventh to twelfth centuries). (This is, of course, the same Omar Khayyam famous for his Persian poetry; here we concentrate on his science.)

As we shall see below, this decision to focus on Khayyam is to a certain extent arbitrary: the problem had a significant history in the Arabic world before and after Khayyam. He does occupy a special position in the history of the problem. Our knowledge of Arabic treatments prior to him is in some cases derived from him alone (much as we know of early Greek treatments of the problem through the work of Eutocius). And while the later history of the problem adds much that is mathematically valuable, we can usefully end our survey with Khayyam. With him, as we shall see, the route from problems to equations is largely completed. It is also helpful to compare like with like: and it is therefore appropriate to have our survey – begun with the genius of Archimedes – end with the genius of Khayyam.

Our goal in this chapter, then, is to show that Khayyam's mathematics already differs essentially from Archimedes'. This should be a deep conceptual divide, along the lines suggested by Klein and Unguru. We also need to show the historical basis for this divide, in terms of changes in the practice of mathematics from the world of Archimedes to the world of Khayyam.