Mathematics and Astronomy [IO Islamic 1748] خلاصة الحساب

Mathematics and Astronomy.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1748 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 758 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

758.

1748. Size 9 in. by 5 in.; foll. 26. From thirteen to nineteen lines in a page.

A Compendium of Arithmetic, called خلاصة الحساب  by BAHÂ AL-DÎN MUḤAMMAD B. ḤUSAIN ‘ÂMULÎ العامُلى (d. A.H. 1030 1 or 1031).

Printed, with a Persian translation and commentary, at Calcutta, 1812, and also at Constantinople, A.H. 1268. Edited in German by Prof. [Georg Heinrich Ferdinand] Nesselmann, [Versuch einer kritischen Geschichte der Algebra] Berlin, 1843 ; and translated into French by M. Aristide Marre, [Essence du calcul, Paris] Rome, 1864 (2nd edit.). Cf.  Ḥ. Kh. iii. 168; Cat. Mus. Brit. 622; Cat. St. Petersb. 230.

The preface contains here a dedication to a Ṣafawî prince, styled السلطان ابن السطان ابن السلطان ابو الغالب سلطان حسن 2 بهادر خان which is in none of the other copies. At the end is given the date of the original copy, Ṣafar, 1004 [=October 1595]. The present copy is dated Saturday, Rabî’ II., 1056 [=June 1646]. The scribe gives his name as

غلام محمد عبدالقادر لجائى

Legibly written In Nasta’liḳ, with copious notes. Stained by damp.

On the title-page is a table of the ‘’Indian numerals,’’ اسماء العدد الهندية , as follows : يكن (meaning آحاد ,(دهن (meaning عشرات ), etc.

[Tippu.]

[ed note: Quick link to other copies of this work]

1 So according to a note at the end of this MS.

2 Variant حمزة .This appears to be the correct reading, the person in question being Amîr Ḥamzah, son of Muḥammad Khudâbandah [reg. 1578-87], and grandson of Shâh Ṭahmâsp [1514-76]. [ed note: Ḥamza Mīrzā, was a brother of ʿAbbās I, the latter assuming the throne in 996/1588.]