they used to join me, and we repeated to each other the lessons he had heard.Now Omar was a native of Nishapur, while Hasan Ben Sabbahâs father was one Ali, a man of austere life and practice, but heretical in his creed and doctrine.
Omar Khayyam attended other institutions of learning, including those at Bukhara, Balkh, Samarkand and Isphahan, but he lived in Nishapur and Samarkand in Central Asia for most of his life. On the accession of Din Malik Shah (1055â92) as sultan of Jalal, Omar Khayyam was appointed court astronomer with an observatory in Esfahan. Other leading astronomers were brought to the court, and for about 18 years Omar Khayyam supervised his team of astronomers to produce work of very high quality. During this time Khayyam was responsible for compiling astronomical tables, and he contributed to a calendar reform in 1079. He calculated the length of the year as 365.24219858156 daysâa grossly over-accurate figure quoted to a precision not even achievable today. It is correct as far as the fifth decimal place, but it is almost certainly built upon the work of Albategnius a century before him, who in turn had access to the work and observations of Ptolemy and the Alexandrian scholars.
Omar Khayyam is one of the select group of astronomers who also made original contributions to the advance of mathematics. A good example is his work on algebra, which became known throughout Europe in theMiddle Ages. His skill as a mathematician was legendary in his time. In his book on algebra he classified many algebraic equations based on their complexity. When he came to study the cubic equation he identified no less than 13 different forms. He went on to discover a geometrical method to solve cubic equations by finding the intersection of a parabola with a circle. He studied probability, including what we now call binomial probability, and he produced figures for what we know as Pascalâs triangle. He questioned whether or not a ratio should be regarded as a number. To put his work into perspective it must be said that the Romans also had the means to solve the cubic equation and they, too, used a geometric method, so Khayyamâs method was probably a derivation from an earlier method. It is also well known that in the third century BC the Alexandrian mathematician Apollonius wrote a treatise on the conic sections. This was also known to the Arabians, but very few could master the ancient texts and Omar Khayyamâs contribution is seen as a new development to an old problem. He extended Euclidâs work by giving a new definition of ratios and showed how to handle the multiplication of ratios. He also contributed to the theory of parallel lines.
The
Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyam not only made original contributions toscience but also to literature. In fact he is better known as a poet than as an astronomer, and he is certainly the best-known Arabian poet in the Christian world. His fame is due to the Englishman Edward Fitzgerald (1809â83) who translated into English the
Rubaiyat
of Omar Khayyam, a collection of 100 short, four-line poems, and then published them in 1859. The English version of the
Rubaiyat
has gone to several editions. This is in spite of the fact that a lot is lost by the translation into English. It has to be said that Edward Fitzgerald took a few liberties in his translation and to help with the marketing, and he wrote the first stanza entirely on his own!
Wake, For the Sun, who scattered into flight
The Stars before him from the field of night,
Drives Night along with them from Heavân, and strikes
The Sultanâs Turret with a Shaft of Light.
The
Rubaiyat
contains very little astronomy, and when it does it is only in support of the philosophy:
LXXII
And that inverted bowl they call the sky,
Whereunder crawling cooped we live and die
Lift not your hands to it for helpâfor it
As impotently moves as you or I.
His best-known quatrain came when he was pondering
Omar Khayyam attended other institutions of learning, including those at Bukhara, Balkh, Samarkand and Isphahan, but he lived in Nishapur and Samarkand in Central Asia for most of his life. On the accession of Din Malik Shah (1055â92) as sultan of Jalal, Omar Khayyam was appointed court astronomer with an observatory in Esfahan. Other leading astronomers were brought to the court, and for about 18 years Omar Khayyam supervised his team of astronomers to produce work of very high quality. During this time Khayyam was responsible for compiling astronomical tables, and he contributed to a calendar reform in 1079. He calculated the length of the year as 365.24219858156 daysâa grossly over-accurate figure quoted to a precision not even achievable today. It is correct as far as the fifth decimal place, but it is almost certainly built upon the work of Albategnius a century before him, who in turn had access to the work and observations of Ptolemy and the Alexandrian scholars.
Omar Khayyam is one of the select group of astronomers who also made original contributions to the advance of mathematics. A good example is his work on algebra, which became known throughout Europe in theMiddle Ages. His skill as a mathematician was legendary in his time. In his book on algebra he classified many algebraic equations based on their complexity. When he came to study the cubic equation he identified no less than 13 different forms. He went on to discover a geometrical method to solve cubic equations by finding the intersection of a parabola with a circle. He studied probability, including what we now call binomial probability, and he produced figures for what we know as Pascalâs triangle. He questioned whether or not a ratio should be regarded as a number. To put his work into perspective it must be said that the Romans also had the means to solve the cubic equation and they, too, used a geometric method, so Khayyamâs method was probably a derivation from an earlier method. It is also well known that in the third century BC the Alexandrian mathematician Apollonius wrote a treatise on the conic sections. This was also known to the Arabians, but very few could master the ancient texts and Omar Khayyamâs contribution is seen as a new development to an old problem. He extended Euclidâs work by giving a new definition of ratios and showed how to handle the multiplication of ratios. He also contributed to the theory of parallel lines.
The
Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyam not only made original contributions toscience but also to literature. In fact he is better known as a poet than as an astronomer, and he is certainly the best-known Arabian poet in the Christian world. His fame is due to the Englishman Edward Fitzgerald (1809â83) who translated into English the
Rubaiyat
of Omar Khayyam, a collection of 100 short, four-line poems, and then published them in 1859. The English version of the
Rubaiyat
has gone to several editions. This is in spite of the fact that a lot is lost by the translation into English. It has to be said that Edward Fitzgerald took a few liberties in his translation and to help with the marketing, and he wrote the first stanza entirely on his own!
Wake, For the Sun, who scattered into flight
The Stars before him from the field of night,
Drives Night along with them from Heavân, and strikes
The Sultanâs Turret with a Shaft of Light.
The
Rubaiyat
contains very little astronomy, and when it does it is only in support of the philosophy:
LXXII
And that inverted bowl they call the sky,
Whereunder crawling cooped we live and die
Lift not your hands to it for helpâfor it
As impotently moves as you or I.
His best-known quatrain came when he was pondering
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