An Introduction to the Mathematics of the Golden Age of Medival Islam

 One thing that I was not aware of at least in terms of Islam civilization was the idea that it was permitted to kill mathematicians. The book mentions that the reasoning behind this could have been that it was because mathematicians were considered astronomers and were therefore also considered astrologers. I personally have always found the more personal, dramatic history of mathematics very interesting and loved when my professors would incorporate it into our lessons. Although I am not sure where I would place Islamic civilization and their beliefs within class material, I think I would just start a lesson with some quick interesting facts to get the students engaged for the day. I always found as a student I really enjoyed less ‘math’ related math content to start the class, so I think starting the occasional class focusing on different civilizations which are involved with the history of math, would be a way to incorporate these facts into my teaching of mathematics.

Another thing I learned that I was not previously aware of was the origin of the word algorithm. I knew there was Latin origin, however I was unaware of its Arabic heritage in that it came from the mathematician Al-Khwārizmī. I would incorporate this into my own teaching of mathematics by providing a brief background and origin of where the term algorithm came from. Doing this I believe would provide some context for the students, as I think sometimes math vocabulary can appear to come out of nowhere for students. I would try and do this occasionally for new math vocabulary, as a way for students to have interesting facts connected to a term, to provide context. 

Finally, I was introduced to the calculation of 2pi that  al-Kāshī’s determined. As the book notes, the interesting part about this calculation was the accuracy to which is was done, by deciding how close he wanted his approximation of 2pi to be. I would incorporate this information into my own mathematical teaching by introducing this approximation of 2pi and the goal of al-Kāshī’s approximation, when I first introduce 2pi in class. As well, I think  al-Kāshī’s strict approximation guidelines he set for himself are a good way to explain to students the importance of accurate approximations, so the overall answer of what you are calculating is not largely affected by the approximation being made.