Abu Nasri Mansur ibn Ali ibn Iraq ( fa, أبو نصر منصور بن علی بن عراق; c. 960 – 1036) was a
Persian Muslim mathematician and
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
. He is well known for his work with the spherical
sine law.
[Bijli suggests that three mathematicians are in contention for the honor, Alkhujandi, Abdul-Wafa and Mansur, leaving out Nasiruddin Tusi. Bijli, Shah Muhammad and Delli, Idarah-i Adabiyāt-i (2004) ''Early Muslims and their contribution to science: ninth to fourteenth century'' Idarah-i Adabiyat-i Delli, Delhi, India, page 44, ]
Abu Nasr Mansur was born in
Gilan,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, to the ruling family of
Khwarezm, the
Afrighids.
He was thus a prince within the political sphere. He was a student of
Abu'l-Wafa and a teacher of and also an important colleague of the mathematician,
Al-Biruni. Together, they were responsible for great discoveries in mathematics and dedicated many works to one another.
Most of Abu Nasri's work focused on math, but some of his writings were
on astronomy. In mathematics, he had many important writings on
trigonometry
Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...
, which were developed from the writings of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
. He also preserved the writings of
Menelaus of Alexandria
Menelaus of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Menelaos ho Alexandreus''; c. 70 – 140 CE) was a Greek Encyclopædia Britannica "Greek mathematician and astronomer who first conceived and defined a spher ...
and reworked many of the Greeks theorems.
He died in the
Ghaznavid Empire
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwe ...
(modern-day
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
) near the city of
Ghazna.
References
Sources
*
PDF version
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansur, Abu Nasr
10th-century Iranian mathematicians
960s births
1036 deaths
Scientists who worked on qibla determination
10th-century Iranian astronomers
11th-century Iranian astronomers
Ghaznavid scholars
People from Gilan Province