astronomy

Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi

Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi rather than just read about it. In short: Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ashraf al-Ḥusaynī al-Samarqandī (Persian: شمس الدین سمرقندی; c. 1250 – c. 1310) was a 13th century Islamic theologian, astronomer and mathematician from Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan. Life Little is known of al-Samarqandi's life, who composed his most important works during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Key takeaways

Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ashraf al-Ḥusaynī al-Samarqandī (Persian: شمس الدین سمرقندی; c. 1250 – c. 1310) was a 13th century Islamic theologian, astronomer and mathematician from Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan.

Life Little is known of al-Samarqandi's life, who composed his most important works during the 13th and 14th centuries. He wrote works on theology, logic, philosophy, mathematics and astronomy which are important in their own right, but also provide information about the works of other astronomers. His treatise, Risala fi adab al-bahth, is a discussion of dialectic reasoning as used by the ancient Greeks. He wrote Synopsis of Astronomy, and produced a star catalogue for the year 1276–1277. Al-Samarqandi wrote a 20-page work which discussed 35 of Euclid's propositions. In his preparation of the work, al-Samarqandi consulted the works of other Muslim mathematicians such as Ibn al-Haytham, Omar Khayyam, Al-Abbās ibn Said al-Jawharī, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī.

References

Sources Dilgan, Hamid (1970). "Al-Samarqandī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ashraf al-Ḥusaynī". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston; Holmes, Frederic Lawrence (eds.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 12. New York: Scribner. OCLC 755137603. Fazlıoğlu, İhsan (2007). "Samarqandī: Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ashraf al-Ḥusaynī al-Samarqandī". In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. p. 1008. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version) O'Connor, J.J.; Robertson, E.F. (1999). "Shams al-Din ibn Ashraf Al-Samarqandi". MacTutor. University of St Andrews. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

Further reading De Young, Gregg (2001). "The Ashkāl al-Ta'sīs of al-Samarqandī: A Translation and Study". Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. 14: 57–118. ISSN 0179-4639.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi

In research: Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1250s births, 1310 deaths, 13th-century astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi in simple terms?

Why does Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi.