Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani
Abū al-Wafāʾ Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Būzjānī or Abū al-Wafā Būzhjānī (Persian: ابو الوفا بوژگانی, Arabic: ابو الوفا بوزجانی; 10 June 940 – 15 July 998) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer who worked in Baghdad. He made important innovations in spherical trigonometry, and his work on arithmetic for businessmen contains the first instance of using negative numbers in a medieval Islamic text.
Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani | |
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Born | Buzhgan, Iran | 10 June 940
Died | 15 July 998 58) | (aged
Academic background | |
Influences | Al-Battani |
Academic work | |
Era | Islamic Golden Age |
Main interests | Mathematics and astronomy |
Notable works | Almagest of Abū al-Wafā' |
Notable ideas |
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Influenced | Al-Biruni, Abu Nasr Mansur |
He is also credited with compiling the tables of sines and tangents at 15' intervals. He also introduced the secant and cosecant functions, as well studied the interrelations between the six trigonometric lines associated with an arc. His Almagest was widely read by medieval Arabic astronomers in the centuries after his death. He is known to have written several other books that have not survived.