This fifth volume of A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics is complemented by four preceding volumes which focused on the main chapters of classical mathematics: infinitesimal geometry, theory of conics and its applications, spherical geometry, mathematical astronomy, etc.


This book includes seven main works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) and of two of his predecessors, Thābit ibn Qurra and al-Sijzī:

• The circle, its transformations and its properties;








• Analysis and synthesis: the founding of analytical art;








• A new mathematical discipline: the Knowns;








• The geometrisation of place;








• Analysis and synthesis: examples of the geometry of triangles;








• Axiomatic method and invention: Thābit ibn Qurra;








• The idea of an Ars Inveniendi: al-Sijzī.

Including extensive commentary from one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, this fundamental text is essential reading for historians and mathematicians at the most advanced levels of research.