Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi

Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī

Born	29 or 30 December 1256 Marrakech, Morocco
Died	31 July 1321
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Region	Islamic civilization
Main interests	Mathematics, Astronomy
Influenced by Al-Zarqali, Ibn Isḥāq al‐Tūnisī

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El Majdoub Awzal Choukri Ben Jelloun Zafzaf El Maleh Chraîbi Mernissi Leo Africanus Khaïr-Eddine
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Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī al-Azdi also known as Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi. (Arabic: ابن البنّاء‎) [29) December 1256 – c. 1321) was a Moroccan mathematician, astronomer, Islamic scholar, Sufi, and a one time astrologer.

The crater Al-Marrakushi on the Moon is named after him.

Biography

Ibn al-Banna' (lit. the son of an architect), was born in Marrakesh in 1256. Having learned basic mathematical and geometrical skills he proceeded to translate Euclid's Elements into Arabic.

Works

Ibn al-Banna' wrote between 51 to 74 treatises, encompassing such varied topics as Algebra, Astronomy, Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Logic. One of his works, called Talkhīṣ ʿamal al-ḥisāb (Arabic, تلخيص عمل الحساب ) (Summary of arithmetical operations), includes topics such as fractions, sums of squares and cubes etc. Another, called Tanbīh al-Albāb, covers topics related to:

• calculations regarding the drop in irrigation canal levels,
• arithmetical explanation of the Muslim laws of inheritance
• determination of the hour of the Asr prayer,
• explanation of frauds linked to instruments of measurement,
• enumeration of delayed prayers which have to be said in a precise order,and
• calculation of legal tax in the case of a delayed payment

Yet another work by Ibn al-Banna' was Rafʿ al-Ḥijāb (Lifting the Veil) which included topics such as computing square roots of a number and theory of continued fractions. This work was also the first mathematical work since Brahmagupta to use an algebraic notation, which was then further developed by his successor Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī two centuries later.

See also

• List of Arab scientists and scholars

References

• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "al-Marrakushi ibn Al-Banna", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews .

Further reading

• Ahmed Jabbar and Mohammed Ablagh : "Life and Works of Ibn al-Banaa al-Murrakushi", Publication of the Faculty of Letters, Rabat, 2001

External links

• Samsó, Julio (2007). "Ibn al‐Bannāʾ: Abū al‐ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al‐Azdī al‐Marrākushī". In Thomas Hockey et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 551–2. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0.  (PDF version)
• Vernet, J. (2008) [1970-80]. "Ibn Al-Bannā Al Marrākushī". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Encyclopedia.com. 
• The Filāḥa Texts Project: Ibn al-Bannā’