“3D Thinking” Pages 187, 274: Using close-packing circles to create surface designs, during the early years of Islam, requires a method to generate different close-packing circle arrangements. The dynamic sphere geometry provides such a method. Applying the geometry, starting with a 5-circle arrangement within the unit triangle of a square, generates many arrangements including the […]
“3D Thinking” Page 187: The animation below shows the Arabian “close-packing” circle method that was used to create the window design of the 1356CE Madrasa of Amir Salf al-din Sargatmish in Old Cairo, Egypt. The design method dates back to the Abbasid period – a time of great creativity. The development starts with (i) a […]
“3D Thinking” Pages 183 to 186: An example of the Ray Method – one of the six primary methods used to create Arabian designs during the early Islamic period – during the Abbasid Caliphate 566-653CE. In the animation one arm of a “10-Ray” is used to position a “6-Ray” – then on the intersection of […]
I have been working on my latest book, “The Arabs,” – a new title in the “Geometry Through Time,” series. I’d like to share an idea originally formed in the 1960’s, and that I have been further developing for “The Arabs”; that of the possible use of the ABJAD system to store coded messages in […]
Mathematicians working within the Islamic culture, from about 900 AD, often used geometry to communicate ideas, instructions, and even to send messages using the Abjad numerological system and the numbers of sides of polygons, rosettes, and other design forms, to encode words and meanings. Walking into the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, for example, is, […]
