Mathematics of the Golden Age of Medieval Islam

 I found this reading very interesting because it shed light on a different perspective of mathematics that is not commonly talked about. I really appreciated that we were assigned this reading on Islamic mathematicians since they have made such remarkable contributions in a number of fields. 

One of the first things that really surprised me was Al-Khwarizmi's contribution to "...assist in the construction of a map of the known world...". We have talked about Al-Khwarizmi in class, but reading about how he achieved this using 3 different problems that combined both theory and practice was quite interesting. This map that showed the distribution of cities, islands and seas on the earth's surface is a significant achievement and an incredible legacy for Islamic society, so I found this fact really fascinating!

Another thing that really stood out to me was Al-Biruni's work on Indian society and culture. I found it really interesting that he did work in comparative religion between Islam and Hinduism, and had apparently reported these comparisons with a sense of honesty that isn't commonly found. I think this work especially intrigues me because I personally have ancestry tied to India, and was raised muslim, so the idea of this early work really fascinates me and I would love to read more into Al Biruni's findings in his work India.

The last thing that surprised me was that Umar al-Khayyami was mainly known as a poet outside of the Islamic world, despite his significant contributions to mathematics and astronomy. He had written great works on algebra, and conducted extensive work in astronomy which allowed him to propose and revise the calendar in use at the time (which in my opinion is a very significant contribution!)

It was really fascinating to read about all of these Islamic mathematicians, and one of my main takeaways is that these individuals were all very talented and well-versed in a number of disciplines. Not only were all of these individuals mathematicians, but they all had significant achievements in other fields such as geography, astronomy, and poetry. I think this would be enlightening for students to learn about so that they could get more exposure to different cultures achievements, and have a less euro-centric education. I think another interesting takeaway for students would be that the mathematicians were not "boring" individuals "obsessed with numbers" which may be a common misconception among students, but they actually interested in a number of captivating fields! These takeaways may add more humanity to mathematics from a student's perspective, and may make the subject appear less daunting!