Mathematics and Astronomy [IO Islamic 461]

Mathematics and Astronomy.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 461 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 767 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

767.

461. Size 9 in. by 51/2 in.; foll. 208. Twelve lines in a page.

I.Foll. 1-7. A treatise without title on the use of the Astrolabe. It is ascribed on the title-page to NAṢÎR AL-DÎN ṬÛSÎ (رساله در عمل اسطرلاب خطى از خواجه نصير ) . Ḥ. Kh. iii. 366 mentions a Persian treatise by this author on the subject.

Begins: الاوّل فى تسمية اجزائها .

The copy was revised on 14th Shawwâl, 1198.

II.Foll. 8-34. مقالة للحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم فى صورة الكسوف . A treatise on the Eclipse of the Sun, by AL-ḤASAN B. AL-ḤASAN B. AL-HAITHAM Baṣrî (d. A.H. 430), the same as no. 734, xiii.

III. Foll. 35-180. A revised and abridged edition of a work on Algebra (الجبر و المقابلة) by Sharaf al-dîn al-Muẓaffar b. Muḥammad Ṭûsî (who flourished about A.H. 606).1 The name of the editor is not mentioned. It is entitled المعادلات .

Begins: اما بعد حمدالله تعالى و الثناء عليه و الصلوة على رسوله محمد وآله فانى قصدت فى هذا الكتاب تلخيص صناعة الجبر و المقابلة و تهذيب ما وصل الىّ من كلام الفاضل الفيلسوف الاعظم شرف الدين الخ.

IV. Foll. 182-189. رسالة فى عمل ضلع المسبّع المتساوى الاضلاع فى الدائرة لابى سهل الكوهى . How to draw an equilateral septangle in a circle; a treatise by ABU SAHL KÛHÎ (Waijan b. Rustam , who flourished towards the end of the fourth century). Cf. Cat. Lugd. iii. 57; Casiri, i. 444 inf.; Fihrist, ed. Flügel, ٢٨٤, 2 .

Begins: امّا اصحاب التعاليم فكلهم قائلون بفضل ارشميدس و مقدموه على غيره من قدمائهم الخ.

This treatise is intended to carry out an unfinished design of Archimedes. 2 It was written for Abu’l-fawâris b. ‘Aḍud al-daulah, the Bûyide.

V.Foll. 189-191. Another short treatise by ABU SAHL KÛHÎ, inscribed طريق فى استخراج خطين بين خطين و يتوالى 3 على نسبة لابى سهل الكوهى . Cf. Casiri, i. 444, l. 5 inf.

Begins: نجعل الخطين ا ب ب ج .

VI. Foll. 191v. -197. كتاب ابراهيم بن سنان بن ثابت فى مساحة قطع المخروط المكافئ . A treatise by IBRÂHÎM B. SINÂN b. Thâbit Ḳurrah (d. A.H. 335)4 on the measurement of parabolas.

Begins: قد كنت عملت كتابا فى مساحة هذا القطع قديما . This is the third edition of the treatise, the two earlier editions having been lost.

The author also mentions the labours of his grandfather Thâbit,1 and of Mâhânî, on this subject.

VII. Foll. 198-208. كتاب ثابت بن قرة فى القرسطون .

A treatise by THÂBIT B. ḲURRAH (d. A.H. 288), on the weighing – machine called القرسطون . 2

Begins: كل خط نقسم قسمين مختلفين هذا آخر ما املاه ابو الحسن ثابت بن قرة فى تبيين امر القرسطون.

An elegant copy in Nasta’liḳ, executed like no. 744.

1 Cf. Cat. Lugd. iii. 71.

2 See no. 734, xx.

3 Sic; read فتتوالى , or rather فيتوالى الاربعة . In the index the same is expressed by تا چهار متناسب باشند .

4 Cf. Cat. Mus. Brit. ii. 444, and Chwolsohn, Die Ssahier, i. 577.

1 Cf. Casiri, i. 390, l. 20.

2 Or الفرسطون . See Dorn, Drei astron. Instr., p. 95, and Fihrist, ed Flûgel, ii. 127.