Medieval Muslims Half a Millenium Ahead of the Western World

One of my friends found these two articles on the topic. I found them rather interesting (although not too surprising). I thought I’d share them with you guys.

From Scotsman.com:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Magnificently sophisticated geometric patterns in mediaeval Islamic architecture indicate their designers achieved a mathematical breakthrough 500 years earlier than Western scholars, scientists said on Thursday.

By the 15th century, decorative tile patterns on these masterpieces of Islamic architecture reached such complexity that a small number boasted what seem to be “quasicrystalline” designs …

Read on … Mediaeval Muslims Made Stunning Math Breakthrough By Will Dunham.

From The Independant:

Islamic artists were exploiting a mathematical principle to decorate buildings with complicated patterns of tiles more than 500 years before its discovery in the West.

The decorative tilework that adorns some medieval Islamic buildings has been found to use basic geometric shapes that form a complex and highly intricate tiling pattern which does not repeat itself.

In modern mathematics the principle of non-repeating patterns …

Read on … Islamic Artists Were 500 Years Ahead of Western Scientists By Steve Connor.

 Edit: The articles reminded me of some of the things mentioned and shown in the documentary titled When the Moors Ruled Europe, posted below.

(Sorry about the music and stuff … :( )