Abu Nasr Mansur

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Abu Nasr Mansur : biography

960 – 1036

Abu Nasr Mansur ibn Ali ibn Iraq Also the ‘sine law’ (of geometry and trigonometry, applicable to spherical trigonometry) is attributed, among others, to Alkhujandi. (The three others are Abul Wafa Bozjani, Nasiruddin Tusi and Abu Nasr Mansur). A history of science, technology, and culture in Central Asia, Volume 1 Early Muslims and their contribution to science: ninth to fourteenth century

Abu Nasr Mansur was born in Gilan, Persia, to the ruling family of Khwarezm, the "Banu Iraq". 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 Nasr’s work focused on math, but some of his writings were on astronomy. In mathematics, he had many important writings on trigonometry, which were developed from the writings of Ptolemy. He also preserved the writings of Menelaus of Alexandria and reworked many of the Greeks theorems.

He died in the Ghaznavid Empire (modern-day Afghanistan) near the city of Ghazna.

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