Mathemata, A Concept Between the Known and Unknown: Rereading the History of Mathematics in the Islamic Civilization within the Context of the Term 'Hisab'

The paper will focus on the transformation of the concept of ‘mathemata’ after the invention of the term 'Ḥisab' which is a calculation technique based on the ‘relations’ between numbers and the ‘relations’ between the magnitudes. Mathemata is inherited by the Islamic civilisation from the ancient civilisations and derives from two terms: arithmos (number) and megethos (magnitude). It is considered to be the study of ‘essence’. Additionally, the paper will examine how this new concept arithmetizates the known (sexagesimal, mental, and Indian) and unknown (algebra) quantities. Moreover, it will deal with how the science of surveying (misāḥa) is conducted by using the quantitative representation of the concept magnitude. It will introduce the Seljuk, Ottoman, and Andalusian scholars and treatises that had role in canonization of the taḥrīr movement on mathematical sciences which was began in Marw.