- Al-Mahani
Abu-Abdullah Muhammad ibn Īsa Māhānī, was a Persian [Islamic desk reference: compiled from the Encyclopaedia of Islam - by E. van Donzel - - Page 287] mathematician and astronomer from
Mahan ,Kerman , Persia.A series of observations of lunar and solar eclipses and planetary conjunctions, made by him from 853 to 866, was in fact used by
Ibn Yunus .He wrote commentaries on
Euclid andArchimedes , and improvedIshaq ibn Hunain 's translation ofMenelaus of Alexandria 's "Spherics". He tried vainly to solve an Archimedean problem: to divide a sphere by means of a plane into two segments being in a given ratio of volume. That problem led to a cubic equation, x³ + c²b = cx², which Muslim writers called "al-Mahani's equation".References
* H. Suter, "Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber" 26, 1900. His failure to solve the Archimedean problem is quoted by 'Omar al-Khayyami'). See Fr. Woepcke, "L'algebra d'Omar Alkhayyami" 2, 96 sq. (Paris, 1851).
ee also
*
List of Iranian scientists External links
*MacTutor Biography|id=Al-Mahani|title=Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Isa Al-Mahani
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.