In the Shadows of Samarkand: Persia’s Lost Mathematicians

Between the 14th and 15th centuries, Persian scholars, such as Ghiyāth al-Dīn Jamshīd Al-Kāshī (under the guidance of the great Timurid Sultan and astronomer/mathematician Ulugh Beg), pioneered iterative mathematical approximation techniques that allowed for highly accurate approximations of sin(1°). These methods were further developed in Mughal-era India in both Persian and Sanskrit texts. This talk, based on ongoing work-study research, describes how we reconstruct these mathematical techniques and implement them computationally to better understand their accuracy and efficiency.