The single biggest problem regarding mathematics and the sciences is motivating younger students to study them.

While the United States excels at welcoming people from all over the world to travel to the U.S. and study science and math, the number of aspiring mathematicians at universities is decreasing. About only 2% of all students in America that pursue a bachelor’s degree are in the fields of mathematics or other physical sciences. On top of that, roughly 48% of students studying a STEM field in a bachelor’s program, and 69% of students pursuing an associate’s degree, changed majors or exited college before earning their degree [1]. One possible explanation for this is the reputation that math has for being boring, uninteresting, and complicated. However, there could hardly be a better time to become a mathematician.

I was watching a documentary about deserts with my 2 year old. At first, she found the documentary to be boring because the desert appeared to be bland and void of life. Then, the screen started showing the lively and colorful aspects of a desert including its oases, various cacti, and small creatures. She was shocked that the arid desert could possess so much color, life, and intrigue. It reminded me of my feelings towards mathematics. For some people, mathematics seems like a dry and dull subject that makes little sense. However, it too becomes full of life and color once one looks in the right places and from the correct perspective.

Ten years ago, the Wall Street Journal ranked jobs based upon a number of parameters such as salary, freedom, the possibility of promotion, and ease of employment. It may surprise you to find out that being a mathematician was ranked as the number one job in the world! [2] Career Cast, a company that started as a spin-off for this kind of ranking in 1988, also ranked mathematician as the number one job in 2014 [3].

In job advertisements, the definition of a mathematician is somebody who applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial setting. In other words, a mathematician is someone who insists on solving problems, which is what mathematics was invented for. However, a crucial point is missing from this description. There are mathematicians who not only teach or apply mathematics but do math, generate math, and change math.

If a mathematician is one of the best jobs in the world, how many mathematicians are there around the world? Thankfully, it is in the hundreds of thousands: almost 250,000, and it is growing every year, particularly in India and China [4]. These countries encourage their children to participate in STEM fields from a young age and place a very high emphasis upon education that can help foster a love for STEM careers at a young age.

Although mathematics is the science in which theorems last for a long time, it is also a field that is being renewed constantly. There are not many other subjects in which knowledge can last thousands of years and always remain both correct and relevant. For instance, the theorems of Euclid, a Greek mathematician who lived in the third century BC, are still accurate today. If we look at the modern applications of computer science and mathematics we see that people are still applying the contributions of Laplace about the central limit theorem, using the contributions of Shannon in sampling, and applying Fourier’s ideas about signal analysis and signal processing. Paradoxically, mathematics is ancient and contemporary at the same time.

In 2014, Emmanuel Candes of Stanford University gave a short speech about how he had collaborated with medical doctors and mathematicians, and used Fourier’s ideas in analysis and data processing, to drastically reduce the time needed to develop a scan [5]. His machine was a significant evolution for the medical field. In experiments, it was shown that to reconstruct images with the best accuracy, they need to have only 2% of the Fourier transform. Candes managed to reduce this time by a factor of eight by knowing only a very small portion of the Fourier transform. Netflix also uses this technology for reconstructing missing information and predicting the preferences of users for movies.

However, the life of a mathematician is not always full of success. The field is full of uncertainty, intense problem solving that can often take weeks or even months, and waiting. Most of a mathematician’s time as a researcher is spent in failure. That is an objective fact. A common motto is, “Every day is a failure. This is our life.” But when we look back on the amount of time that is spent solving these problems, everything pays off. Every year, the number of new theorems added in mathematics runs into the thousands. Failures are not actually failures, but merely bumps along the path of progress.

Another common problem that befalls mathematicians is that they will be expected to perfectly predict what will happen should their discovery work as intended. This is especially true of work done under the auspices of government agencies, since they will often not grant money without a very clear path towards a desired outcome. Things do not always go as planned, and thus it can be challenging to argue that a desired result will occur 100% of the time.

Despite these drawbacks, one of the most exciting aspects of mathematics is the potential to discover something revolutionary and groundbreaking. History has shown that the ideas and discoveries of one individual can make a tremendous difference in the world. By encouraging and enabling more and more students to study math and science, we thus increase the odds that more discoveries, be they groundbreaking or not, will continue to be made in the future.

Alan Turing was a mathematician who had an outsized impact on human history. He was instrumental in cracking the secret codes that were used by the Nazis during the Second World War. Some have argued that World War II would have lasted at least two more years without Turing’s intervention. In particular, the Normandy operation would have been impossible. What was Turing’s motivation? It was not patriotism, honor, or a strong duty to his country. It was simple: his main motivation was solving riddles and difficult problems. He lived for the thrill of solving his next big challenge.

Paul Erdos, a Hungarian, was the most productive mathematician of the 20th century. Erdos had no home, no car, no bank account, and no salary. He lived with just one suitcase and his ideas. He worked on theorems his entire life. When he got some money from some reward, he would always use part of it to put a reward on another theorem.

Leo Szilard was another revolutionary mathematician. He was the first person to understand the concept of chain reactions between atoms. His inspiration came from a public lecture, in which famed physicist Ernest Rutherford said, “It would be moonshine talking if you are willing to extract energy from the atom.” Rutherford acknowledged that energy existed within atoms but thought it was impossible to do anything with it. Szilard felt that Rutherford was wrong and decided to prove it. He worked and thought for days. And one day, while he was crossing a street in London, he was struck with an idea about the principle of chain reaction and exponential growth of atomic energy. This lead to him eventually meeting with Albert Einstein and the subsequent development of the Manhattan Project.

Steps in developing ideas

But how do scientists find those perfect ideas? What are the steps? Henri Poincare gives us some hints about how the ideas were coming to him. Poincare, who was always considered a genius, experienced many discoveries after working very hard on the problem and he had a lot of failures. He said: “Disgusted from my failure, I went to spend a few days near the sea thinking anything else. And one day, while walking on the cliff, the idea came to me. And as before, it was very brief, sudden, with immediate certainty, that arithmetic transforms of indefinite ternary quadratic forms are identical to those of non-Euclidean geometry.”

So, under which circumstances does a big idea come? In popular culture, we have those myths like Newton saw an apple falling down and changed the world. But in real life, it’s not the way it happens. For Poincare’s example, the cliff has nothing to do with quadratic forms. Poincare was saying that he worked very hard and then he decided to rest a little bit, and finally, he had the enlightening moment. What is important here is if the brain had not been prepared by hard work, the illuminating idea wouldn’t have struck.

So what is the process of discovery?

Of course, a publication will be the last step for the discovery of an idea. Because publication means that the idea is out and going to be seen and read by the world. But before that, we have many steps or ingredients which make our idea stand up on its feet.

1. Fecundation

The first step is fecundation. In other words, conversations and discussions you have with your colleagues. Your interaction has a potential to bring about a new phase, a new idea out of different projects. It may take months or years to decide what you want to prove.

2. Documentation

Documentation is built upon previous research and insights. We may need to document things from several centuries ago or from recent times. Nowadays, all information is stored in computers and the internet, which makes this step easier than before.

3. Motivation

Motivation is the most important ingredient when we pursue a discovery. Psychologists believe that childhood experiences play a big role. For instance, both Szilard and Turing’s lives were strongly influenced by a book they read before they found their ideas. In the case of Turing, the book Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know was his inspiration. When I was a child, I watched “Donald in Mathmagic Land” and thought it was fascinating. It might have played a big role in my choice to become a mathematician.

4. Ecosystem

A discovery or an idea never arrives on its own. A scientist is never alone and there is a whole ecosystem around them. For instance, at one point in history, Persepolis was the most innovative city in the world. Then it was Paris, and then Budapest. Today, we have the well-known Silicon Valley.

If you are working in a lab, you need to have an atmosphere where people can meet, discuss, and be creative. A good idea comes from teamwork.

5. Constraints

The next ingredient that you need for a good idea is constraints. Without constraints, discovering new ideas is not as likely as when there are. Rigorous findings come about mostly with constraints. One of the most famous problems in mathematics is the Riemann hypothesis, which was tested in thousands of experiments. After those experiments, the proof was only a set of logical rules with constraints. Constraints usually help generate authentic results and artistic quality as in rhyming poems.

6. Intuition

Intuition usually comes together with hard work, yet it is not easy to understand its process.

In addition to these six ingredients, whether one has good fortune or not also plays an important role. It is human condition that things may not come out as we like although we might have done everything necessary.

Henri Poincare says, “Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is everything.” Yet, a big idea might take years of work. Still, even after working so hard, our knowledge is like a tiny island in an ocean of unknown. We know almost nothing, but this is such a precious nothing, because that that knowledge came out of the richness of the thought of many people and their efforts. There are still so many ideas just waiting for us to discover them.

Mathematics, like many scientific fields, is an infinite universe with an infinite amount of problems waiting to be discovered and solved. Their applications within our world are endless, and the possibilities to use these results to create real change in our world are also endless. One tends to ask, is math a stand-alone, abstract concept while its vast horizons of knowledge explains the intricacies of our universe, or does it imply an infinitely bigger wisdom from which this abstract knowledge rises from and that relates to our existence? We must continue to motivate students to study math so that they may fall in love with it and continue to develop humanity.

References

1. United States, Congress, Chen, Xianglei, and Matthew Soldner. “STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields.” STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields, National Center for Education Statistics, Nov. 2013. nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014001rev.pdf.
2. Needleman, Sarah E. “Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 7 Jan. 2009, www.wsj.com/articles/SB123119236117055127.
3. “Jobs Rated 2014: Ranking 200 Jobs from Best To Worst.” CareerCast.com, CareerCast.com, 9 Mar. 2017, www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/jobs-rated-2014-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst.
4. “Mathematics Genealogy Project.” Welcome! – The Mathematics Genealogy Project, genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/
5. Emmanuel J. Candes. “Mathematics of sparsity (and a few other things), August 14, 2014, Seoul. ICM2014 VideoSeries PL3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-b4aDGsbJk

Mathematics, or “the queen of the sciences” as Carl Friedrich Gauss called it, plays an important role in our lives. A world without mathematics is unimaginable. Throughout history, many scholars have made important contributions to this science, among them a great number of Muslims. It is beyond the scope of a short article like this one to mention all the contributions of Muslim scholars to mathematics; therefore, I will concentrate on only four aspects: translations of earlier works, and contributions to algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. In order to understand fully how great were the works of scholars in the past, one needs to look at them with the eye of a person of the same era, since things that are well-known facts today might not have been known at all in the past.

There has never been a conflict between science and Islam. Muslims understand everything in the universe as a letter from God Almighty inviting us to study it to have knowledge of Him. In fact, the first verse of the Qur’an to be revealed was:

Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who created… (Alaq 96:1).

Besides commanding us to read the Qur’an, by mentioning the creation the verse also draws our attention to the universe. There are many verses which ask Muslims to think, to know, to learn and so on. Moreover, there are various sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, encouraging Muslims to seek knowledge. One hadith says, “A believer never stops seeking knowledge until they enter Paradise” (al-Tirmidhi).

In another hadith, the Prophet said, “Seeking knowledge is a duty on every Muslim” (Bukhari). Hence it is no surprise to see early Muslim scholars who were dealing with different sciences.

Translations

Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said, “Knowledge is the lost property of a Muslim; whoever finds it must take it” [1]; hence Muslims started seeking knowledge. One way they did this was to start translating all kinds of knowledge that they thought to be useful. There were two main sources from which Muslim scholars made translations in order to develop the field of science, the Hindus and the Greeks. The Abbasid caliph al-Mamun (804–832) had a university built and ordered its scholars to translate into Arabic many works of Greek scholarship. Between 771 and 773 CE the Hindu numerals were introduced into the Muslim world as a result of the translation of Sithanta from Sanskrit into Arabic by Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim al-Fazari. Another great mathematician, Thabit ibn Qurra, not only translated works written by Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, Ptolemy and Eutocius, but he also founded a school of translation and supervised many other translations of books from Greek into Arabic. While Hajjaj bin Yusuf translated Euclid’s Elements into Arabic, al-Jayyani wrote an important commentary on it which appears in the Fihrist (Index), a work compiled by the bookseller Ibn an-Nadim in 988. A simplified version of Ptolemy’s Almagest appears in Abul-Wafa’s book of Tahir al-Majisty and Kitab al-Kamil. Abu’l Wafa Al-Buzjani commented on and simplified the works of Euclid, Ptolemy and Diophantus. The sons of Musa bin Shakir also organized translations of Greek works.

These translations played an important role in the development of mathematics in the Muslim world. Moreover, the ancient Greek texts have survived thanks to these translations.

Algebra and geometry

The word “algebra” comes from “Al-Jabr”, which is taken from the title of the book Hisab Al-Jabr wal Muqabala by Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780–850). Al-Khwarizmi, after whom the “algorithm” is named, was one of the great mathematicians of all times. Europe was first introduced to algebra as a result of the translation of Khwarizmi’s book into Latin by Robert Chester in 1143. The book has three parts. The first part deals with six different types of equations:

(ax² = bx) ; (ax² = b) ; (ax = b) ; (ax² + bx = c) ; (ax² + c = bx) ; (bx + c = ax²)

Khwarizmi gives both arithmetic and geometric methods to solve these six types of problems [2]. He also introduces algebraic multiplication and division. The second part of Hisab Al-Jabr deals with mensuration. Here he describes the rules of computing areas and volumes. Since Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Learn the laws of inheritance and teach them to people, for that is half of knowledge,”[3] the last and the largest part of this section concerns legacies, which requires a good understanding of the Islamic laws of inheritance. Khwarizmi develops Hindu numerals and introduces the concept of zero, or “sifr” in Arabic, to Europe. The word “zero” actually comes from Latin “zephirum,” which is derived from the Arabic word “sifr.”

The three sons of Musa bin Shakir (about 800–860) were perhaps the first Muslim mathematicians to study Greek works. They wrote a great book on geometry, Kitab Marifat Masakhat Al-Ashkal (The Book of the Measurement of Plane and Spherical Figures), which was later translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona. In the book, although they used similar methods to those of Archimedes, they move a step further than the Greeks to consider volumes and areas as numbers, and hence they developed a new approach to mathematics. For example, they described the constant number pi as “the magnitude which, when multiplied by the diameter of a circle, yields the circumference.”[4]

A well-known poet, philosopher and astronomer Omar Khayyam (1048–1122) was at the same time a great mathematician. His most famous book on algebra is Treatise on the Demonstration of Problems of Algebra. In his book besides giving both arithmetic and geometric solutions to second degree equations he also describes geometric solutions to third degree equations by the method of intersecting conic sections. He also discovered binomial expansion [26]. His work later helped develop both algebra and geometry.

Thabit bin Qurra (836–901) was an important mathematician who made many discoveries in his time. As mentioned in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography [5] he “played an important role in preparing the way for such important mathematical discoveries as the extension of the concept of number to (positive) real numbers, integral calculus, theorems in spherical trigonometry, analytic geometry, and non-Euclidean geometry. In astronomy Thabit was one of the first reformers of the Ptolemaic system, and in mechanics he was a founder of statics.”

To give an idea of his importance, we will just give here, without details, one of his theorems on amicable numbers. Two natural numbers m and n are called “amicable” if each is equal to the sum of the proper divisors of the other:

for n > 1, let pn=3.2^2n–1 and qn=9.2^2n–1–1. If p_n–1 , p_n and q_n are prime numbers, then a=2n p_n–1 p_n and b=2ⁿq_n are amicable. [6]

Abu Kamil (about 850–930), an Egyptian mathematician, wrote the Book on Algebra which consists of three parts:

(1) Solutions of quadratic equations,

(2) Application of algebra to geometry,

(3) Diophantine equations.[7],[8]

He improved the work of Khwarizmi and applied algebraic methods to geometry. His research was on quadratic equations, multiplication and division of algebraic quantities. His work also includes addition and subtraction of radicals. He found the following formulas:

ax.bx=abx²; a(bx)=(ab)x; (10–x)(10–x)=100+x²–20x

Abu Kamil also wrote the Book On Surveying and Geometry, which was intended for government land surveyors. There, he stated the nontrivial rules for calculating areas, volumes, perimeters, and diagonals of different objects in geometry.[9]

Ibrahim ibn Sinan (908–946), a grandson of Thabit bin Qurra, was both an astronomer and a mathematician. Fuat Sezgin writes, “He was one of the most important mathematicians in the medieval Islamic world.” [10] He studied geometry, and his work on calculation of the area under the graph of a parabola is especially appreciated. Going further than Archimedes, he introduced a more general method of integration. [11]

Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Karaji (953–1029), also known as al-Karkhi, is regarded as the first person to have developed algebraic operations without using geometry. One of his major works was Al-Fakhri fi’l-jabr wa’l-muqabala (Glorious on algebra). Historian Woepcke recognizes Al-Fakhri as the beginning of the theory of algebraic calculus. [12] Here, al-Karkhi introduced the monomials x, x², x³, … and 1/x, 1/x², 1/x³, … and explained product rules among them. Moreover, he was the first to find the solutions of the equations ax²ⁿ+bxⁿ=c. [13] Al-Karkhi proved the sum formula for integral cubes by using the method of proof by induction, and hence became the first to use this method. [14]

Abu’l Hasan ibn Ali al-Qalasadi (1412–1486) was an Andalusian Muslim mathematician. His main contribution was to introduce algebraic symbolism, and he used short Arabic words for his symbols. For example, he used the symbol for the sound “sh” from the Arabic word meaning “thing” to represent what we call x, the unknown. [15]

Trigonometry

Khwarizmi also contributed to trigonometry. He established accurate trigonometric tables for sine and cosine, and he was the first to introduce tangent tables. [16] In 1126, these works were translated into Latin by Adelard of Bath.

Al-Battani or Albetagnius (about 850–929) was a Muslim astronomer and mathematician. In his research on astronomy he used trigonometric methods which were a lot more advanced than the geometric methods used by Ptolemy. [17] He introduced trigonometric ratios. For example, for a right triangle with adjacent sides a and b, he gives the formula b sin(A) = a sin(90⁰ – A), which is equivalent to tan A = a/b. He was the first to introduce the cotangent function. [18]

Muhammad Abu’l Wafa (940–998), born at Buzjan in Khorasan, introduced the use of secant, cosecant and tangent functions. He gave a new method of constructing sine tables. He calculated sin(30^0) with an accuracy of up to eight decimal digits. He improved spherical trigonometry and proved the law of sines for general spherical triangles. [19] In particular, he developed the half/double angle formulas:

2 sin² (x/2)=1–cos x; sin 2x=2sin x cos x

He was the first to introduce the notion of secant and cosecant, and hence completed the list of all six trigonometric functions. [20]

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani (989–1079) was an Arab mathematician from Andalus. He was the author of The Book of Unknown Arcs of a Sphere which was “the first treatise on spherical trigonometry.” [21] Here he mentioned formulas for right handed triangles and law of sines. He also stated the formula for the solution of a spherical triangle in terms of the polar triangle. [21] He had a strong influence on the West.

Another outstanding mathematician Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274) wrote Treatise On The Quadrilateral, considered the best book on trigonometry written in medieval times, [25] later translated into French by Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha in 1891. In his book al-Tusi made enormous advances in plane and spherical trigonometry. The Dictionary of Scientific Biography [22] states, “This work is really the first in history on trigonometry as an independent branch of pure mathematics and the first in which all six cases for a right-angled spherical triangle are set forth.” The well-known sine law is also stated in this work: a/sin A = b/sin B = c/sin C.

Ghiyath al-Din al-Kashi (1393–1449) produces sine tables of up to eight decimal places. In 1424, he computed 2π to an accuracy of sixteen decimal digits. He wrote a very impressive book on mathematics: Miftah al-Hussab (Key to Arithmetic). His main purpose in this book is to provide sufficient knowledge of mathematics for those who are working on astronomy,surveying, architecture, accounting and trading. [23] He also describes how to find the fifth root of any number. [24]

Unfortunately, the contributions of Muslims often go unrecognized. Muslim scholars contributed to science in many aspects such as mathematics, astronomy, geography, philosophy, medicine, art, architecture and so on. However, today few realize that in that era Islam played an important role in all aspects of life. Europe faced losing the works of major scholars, but as a result of their translations into Arabic most of this scholarship not only survived, but was further developed. Inspired by the Qur’an and hadiths, Muslims sought knowledge for the benefit of humankind. As the Qur’an says, “Are those who know equal to those who know not?”(Zumar 39:9). We should appreciate the scholars of all eras for their contributions to science.

Shirali Kadyrov is a PhD candidate at the Ohio State University, Mathematics Department.

References

1. Tirmidhi, `Ilm, 19.

2. B.L. van der Waerden, A History of Algebra.

3. Ibn Maja, Hadith No: 2719.

4. D. El-Dabbah, The geometrical treatise of the ninth-century Baghdad mathematicians Banu Musa (Russian), in History Methodology Natur. Sci., No. V, Math. Izdat. (Moscow, 1966), 131–139.

5. Y. Dold-Samplonius, A. T. Grigorian, B. A. Rosenfeld, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970–1990).

6. For more, see S. Brentjes and J. P. Hogendijk, Notes on Thabit ibn Qurra and his rule for amicable numbers, Historia Math. 16 (4) (1989), 373–378.

7. R. Lorch, Abu Kamil on the pentagon and decagon, Vestigia mathematica (1993), 215–252.

8. J. Sesiano, La version latine medievale de ‘l’Algebre d’Abu Kamil, in Vestigia mathematica (Amsterdam, 1993), 315–452.

9.J. Sesiano, Le Kitab al-Misaha d’Abu Kamil, Centaurus 38 (1996), 1–21.

10. F. Sezgin, History of Arabic literature (German) Vol. 5 (Leiden, 1974), 292–295.

11. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Ibrahim.html

12. F. Woepcke, Extrait du Fakhri, traite d’Algebre par Abou Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhacan Alkarkhi (Paris, 1853).

13. Boyer, Carl B. (1991). “The Arabic Hegemony”, A History of Mathematics, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 239. ISBN 0471543977.

14. Victor J. Katz (1998). History of Mathematics: An Introduction, p. 255–259. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0321016181.

15. J. Samso, Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus (Madrid, 1992).

16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_trigonometry

17. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Al-Battani.html

18. http://www.unhas.ac.id/~rhiza/saintis/battani.html

19. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/2127/Abul-Wafa

20. http://www.bhatkallys.com/article/article.asp?aid=3442

21. O’Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani.

22. S. H. Nasr, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York 1970–1990).

23. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Al-Kashi.html

24. http://www.bhatkallys.com/article/article.asp?aid=3442

25. http://members.tripod.com/worldupdates/newupdates10/id142.htm

26. Heinrich Dorrie, David Antin (1965). 100 Great Problems of Elementary Mathematics: Their History and Solution, p.34–36. ISBN 0486613488.