so-called scientific theorems of the Hindus are in a state of utter confusion, devoid of any logical order……since they cannot raise themselves to the methods of strictly scientific deduction……I began to show them the elements on which this science rests, to point out to them some rules of logical deduction and the scientific method of all mathematics, etc.'
The fact is that in the time of el-Māmūn (A.D. 772) a certain Indian astronomical work (or certain works) was translated into Arabic. On this basis it was assumed that the Arabic astronomy and mathematics was wholly of Indian origin, while the fact that Indian works were translated is really only evidence of the intellectual spirit then prevailing in Baghdad. No one can deny that Āryabhata and Brahmagupta preceded M. b. Mūsā[1] but the fact remains that there is not the slightest resemblance between the previous Indian works and those of M. b. Mūsā. The point was somewhat obscured by the publication in Europe of an arithmetical treatise by M. b. Mūsā under the title Algoritmi de Numero Indorum. As is well known the term India did not in mediæval times necessarily denote the India of to-day and despite the title there is nothing really Indian in the work. Indeed its contents prove conclusively that it is not of Indian origin. The same remarks apply to several other mediæval works.
28. From the time of M. b. Mūsā onwards the Muhammadan mathematicians made remarkable progress. To illustrate this fact we need only mention a few of their distinguished writers and their works on mathematics. 'Tābit b. Qorra b. Merwān (826–901) wrote on Euclid, the Almagest, the arithmetic of Nicomachus, the right-angle triangle the parabola, magic squares, amicable numbers, etc. Qostā b. Lūka el-Ba'albeki (died c. A.D. 912) translated Diophantus
- ↑ It should not be forgotten, however, that Nicomachus (A.D. 100) was an Arabian, while Jamblichus, Damascius, and Eutocius were natives of Syria.
