[Scriptoris] Medieval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough

[Hillary Greenslade]

Interesting article to share, regarding the intricate patterns in Islamic decoration, often seen
in the scrolls we like to emulate.   
Enjoy, Hillary 

Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070223/sc_nm/architecture_patterns_dc;_ylt=AgnSXQFiIE45ZQLz%202ieTt.AiANEA

Or:  http://tinyurl.com/2bllnq

Medieval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough 
By Will Dunham
Fri Feb 23, 6:32 AM ET

Magnificently sophisticated geometric patterns in medieval 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,
Harvard University's Peter Lu and Princeton University's Paul Steinhardt wrote in the journal
Science.

Only in the 1970s did British mathematician and cosmologist Roger Penrose become the first to
describe these geometric designs in the West. Quasicrystalline patterns comprise a set of
interlocking units whose pattern never repeats, even when extended infinitely in all directions,
and possess a special form of symmetry.

"Oh, it's absolutely stunning," Lu said in an interview. "They made tilings that reflect
mathematics that were so sophisticated that we didn't figure it out until the last 20 or 30
years."

Lu and Steinhardt in particular cite designs on the Darb-i Imam shrine in Isfahan, Iran, built in
1453.

Islamic tradition has frowned upon pictorial representations in artwork. Mosques and other grand
buildings erected by Islamic architects throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere
often are wrapped in rich, intricate tile designs setting out elaborate geometric patterns.

The walls of many medieval Islamic structures display sumptuous geometric star-and-polygon
patterns. The research indicated that by 1200 an important breakthrough had occurred in Islamic
mathematics and design, as illustrated by these geometric designs.

"You can go through and see the evolution of increasing geometric sophistication. So they start
out with simple patterns, and they get more complex" over time, Lu added.

ISLAMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

While Europe was mired in the Dark Ages, Islamic culture flourished beginning in the 7th century,
with achievements over numerous centuries in mathematics, medicine, engineering, ceramics, art,
textiles, architecture and other areas.

Lu said the new revelations suggest Islamic culture was even more advanced than previously
thought.

While traveling in Uzbekistan, Lu said, he noticed a 16th century Islamic building with decagonal
motif tiling, arousing his curiosity as to the existence of quasicrystalline Islamic tilings.

The sophistication of the patterns used in Islamic architecture has intrigued scholars worldwide.

Emil Makovicky of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark in the 1990s noticed the relationship
between these designs and a form of quasicrystalline designs. Makovicky was interested in
particular in an 1197 tomb in Maragha, Iran.

Joshua Socolar, a Duke university physicist, said it is unclear whether the medieval Islamic
artisans fully understood the mathematical properties of the patterns they were making.

"It leads you to wonder whether they kind of got lucky," Socolar said in an interview. "But the
fact remains that the patterns are tantalizingly close to having the structure that Penrose
discovered in the mid-70s."

"And it will be a lot of fun if somebody turns up bigger tilings that sort of make a more
convincing case that they understood even more of the geometry than the present examples show,"
Socolar said.